


you and i— we're defying gravity

by and_oddly_enough



Series: scyvie wicked au [1]
Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: Alternative Universe - Wicked, College, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-06-24 03:14:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19715122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/and_oddly_enough/pseuds/and_oddly_enough
Summary: Thankfully, Yvie's father was kind enough to enrol her in Shiz University as well, even if she was mainly there to watch over her sister.But after an unfortunate first day, she ends up rooming with one of the most insufferable students in the school, Scarlet Envy.(Or, in other words, a Wicked alternative universe.)





	1. our paths did cross... at school.

**Author's Note:**

> ah, i didn't get to finish my unrequited brookevie fic after all...
> 
> ...which is why, i'm going to start writing this! it's a scyvie wicked au that somewhat correlates to the first fanfiction i made. if you don't want to be spoiled on what happens, don't read that fic. i meant it to be a oneshot but since i got an opportunity to write my own wicked fic, i decided to start a whole fic on it!
> 
> don't be surprised when i say that this will have inconsistent updating because school can be an asshole at times. but i'll try my best to update this because i am absolutely passionate for this au.
> 
> also, i'm sure you've heard of another wicked au by emowithoddsocks aka g on artificialqueens. please don't think this fic is copying their fic— we actually made up the scyvie wicked verse together but they were the first ones to make the fic. they allowed me to make my own fic as well (we're friends so everyone chill). (if you're skeptic, go ahead and ask them on tumblr or something, lmao)
> 
> but anyways, before reading, i hope that y'all are familiar with oz's universe. i don't know each detail specifically but i tried my best to be true to what the original books established about oz. if you aren't familiar, i'll try to add footnotes on what certain parts mean at the end of each chapter.
> 
> (also, not betaed, we die like elphaba being doused with water.)

The walk from the train station to Shiz was such a pain for Yvie. The problem wasn’t about the length between both destinations but it was mostly because her father was a such a pain in the ass. While Yvie sulked and was alienated out of the conversation, her father endlessly supplied her sister, Brooke, with a million compliments. This was mostly a pain just because the compliments, after being used a lot, suddenly becomes jokingly redundant that Yvie could cringe while her father continued to praise Brooke.

But even if her father could cause Yvie to willingly rip her ears off, her sister, on the other hand, was the most angelic asshole she’s ever met in her life. Brooke, despite not looking similar to Yvie, was gorgeous with luscious blonde locks and glowing, flawless skin. Even if she spent most of her life on a wheelchair, Brooke didn’t seem affected by her disability. She appeared confident and was always courteous to everyone.

Yvie, on the other hand, felt that she was… a mess. She was the only person she knew who owned white hair that’d never stay put. The hair would also be put into two massive buns with stray hairs flowing below them. It looked like… a mop. Not only did she have massive, off-putting hair, she also had a strange face. No, it wasn’t deformed by any means but her eyes had no pupils at all. Oddly, they were plainly white and devoid of all color. If that weren’t unfortunate enough, she had permanent marks under her eyes that almost resembles dark thunder. The marks look like a three-year-old got a quill and jaggedly drew on some zigzags on her eyebags. And if you weren’t looking at the eyes, her sharp teeth would definitely scare away anyone if she sneered. A lot of people had mistaken her for a Lion at times.

Even if Yvie looked like trash compared to her gorgeous sister, Brooke treated her very kindly. Brooke was the world to her and she barely had any other friend out there. Her parents, especially her father, tried to hide her from everyone in Munchkinland most likely because she was a shame to their family. She was barely as stunning as how her mother looked and she wouldn’t be a great and punctual leader like her father was. She wasn’t even supposed to enroll in Shiz if it weren’t for her sister needing a bodyguard. There were no positives to her, really, except maybe she can do a split effortlessly. Other than that, she was nothing. 

“Looks like this is where I drop you off,” Her father says, viewing the school’s vast entrance impressively. Shiz University was just like she expected— tall, a bit oldschool, and was dominated by millions of rich Gillikins that Yvie would rather much avoid. 

“I’m not a preschooler, dad. You didn’t have to bring yourself along with us,” Brooke says and their father gave a chuckle.

“I didn’t want to let you get hurt on the way to school—“

“Please don’t insult Yvie again—“

“I won’t,” Her father says sternly but Yvie merely crosses her arms and chews on her lip. She’s used to her father treating her like this anyways. “I just wanted to be extra careful. And additionally,” Her father pulls out a fancily wrapped box from the bag he was carrying to show to Brooke. Yvie recognizes it— it’s a shoebox that probably contains something gaudy just for Brooke to enjoy. With an ecstatic smile, he reveals the contents of the box: ballet slippers that were coated with a few jewels. Yvie wasn’t into ballet at all since it was too graceful for her but she had to admit, those shoes look great.

And judging by Brooke’s face, she definitely enjoyed them. So whatever made her happy made Yvie happy, I guess.

“These— these are wonderful, oh sweet Oz, thank you, dad!” Brooke says as she holds and observes the slippers with glee, “I’m a bit… sad I won’t be able to use this, though,”

“You can just wear it and that’d be enough for me,” their father said as he repacked the slippers back in its box, “Save it for special occasions, okay sweetie?” he says as he shoves the box back inside the bag and forcefully thrusts it at Yvie’s direction. Yvie almost stumbles and grips on the bag with irritation.

“But I’ll be going now since we have a meeting in a few,” their father says as she plants a small peck on Brooke’s head, “Good luck at Shiz, dearie, and write to me when you can.”

“I will,”

“And Yvangeline—“ he points at her rudely, “And as she will be the future governor of Munchkinland, take care of Brooke.” he says sternly but Brooke nudges his hip, implying he should sound more polite, “O-okay! Write to me as well then,” he adds and Brooke looks satisfied. Yvie only clicks her tongue as she looks away. At least one positive thing about her soulless eyes is that people won’t realize when she isn’t paying attention to them.

“I will,” she says eventually and content with that answer, their father walks away. Immediately, Brooke’s lets out a relieved breath as she wheels towards Yvie with concern.

“Dad’s such a cunt, I’m sorry about it,” Brooke says, her kind façade slipping away. Yvie could never take that façade seriously. All the patronizing and polite compliments just want to make Yvie gag.

“Yea, I’ve known for a long time,” Yvie says then proceeds to hang the bag with Brooke’s slippers on Brooke’s wheelchair, “Nothing too bad, though, but the slippers looked cool, I guess.” Yvie says and Brooke just shrugs.

“Agreed but I kinda have no use for them. Dad keeps buying me fashionable shoes when he knows I don’t like showcasing my feet to the world. He’s weird.” Brooke says and begin wheeling her wheelchair going to the entrance. Yvie follows right beside her, struggling to keep up with the heaviness of her and Brooke’s suitcase.

Shiz was just as heavily decorated as she expected. Inside, there were already millions of posters scattered and hastily pasted on the walls. There were a million “Welcome Back!” banners that actually look pretty decent but were partially useless since mostly everyone loathed going back to school.

On the negative side, everyone that passed by them always would stop talking when they spot Yvie and would stare judgmentally towards her direction. Some would even gasp or screech as if she were carrying the plague. Beside her, Brooke looked at her sympathetically and worriedly, even reaching out to squeeze Yvie’s hand to show her empathy.

“Don’t mind them,” Brooke says but obviously, being the rowdy person Yvie is, she didn’t simply ignore them. As they walk further down the hall, Yvie would sneer and grunt at them whenever she hears a rude remark. A few people retorted back a half-assed insult but most of them merely kept their distance which satisfied Yvie. For Brooke, on the other hand, she looked absolutely embarrassed but tried her best to look fine. 

Brooke was Yvie’s best friend and only friend but Yvie longs for the day Brooke wouldn’t be ashamed of Yvie. Although they enjoyed conversing with one another and spending time with another, Yvie could tell that Brooke would look a bit uncomfortable hanging out with her sister out in public.

At the end of the hallway, there was a gigantic room that could possibly hold lots of assembles or events. It was actually plainer than the rest of the university with its simple wooden floors and its white walls. The best feature of the room was definitely the enormous windows that showed the rest of the university past this building. Shiz was undeniably gorgeous despite it being a bit standoffish appearance.

Inside the room were many of the other newly enrolled students carrying their heavy suitcases while they talked to their close friends. Most of them, like previously mentioned, were rich Gillikins who Yvie mostly assumed were here because of their parents’ money rather than intelligence. If Shiz really cared to enroll the smartest of people, there would be much more Animals and Quadlings. But of course, they don’t care.

Suddenly, noise erupted behind Yvie. As she and Brooke were near the entrance, she heard shouts of “Get out of the way!” and cheers of this person named “Scarlet”. Immediately, she and Brooke stayed away from the entrance to avoid the commotion. Yvie didn’t look all too happy to move away just because of some popular person but Brooke tried to calm her down about it.

Eventually, a huge trolley with a ton of stylish suitcases rolled into the room. There were many students surrounding the trolley, all looking up at the one person who was dramatically sitting on top of all the suitcases. The woman on top was laying elegantly on the suitcases as if she were some celebrity and she was fanning herself with her own red, rose-print fan. 

Most of the students seemed to recognize this woman, all shouting her name like cheerleaders. She even seemed like she had her own “bodyguards” which are mostly just her group of friends who want to fend off strangers. With a graceful tone, Scarlet speaks, “Settle down, settle down, let me get off this thing,” she says as she asks the help of a purple-haired girl to let her get down the pile of suitcases. Whoever she is, she obliged and helped her and Scarlet landed on the ground gracefully with her heels clicking upon contact.

“Thank you, Ra’jah,” Scarlet says and her friend simply shrugged, not making so much of a big deal of what was happening. Everyone began surrounding Scarlet again and began bombarding her with numerous question. Yvie thinks all of the attention she was getting was redundant with people tryharding too much. Even Scarlet’s other friends like Ra’jah and some two others Yvie doesn’t recognize look so uncomfortably bothered.

After Scarlet handles all the questions and conversations with admirable skill, she eventually pushes her and herself out of the crowd. When she stepped out, she and Yvie immediately lock eyes and before Yvie could look away, Scarlet exclaims, “What on Oz are you?!”. 

It was a mistake for Yvie to think this redhead was respectable after that comment. Yvie squints and purses her lips angrily as most eyes turn to look at her. Everyone who turned all gasped when she saw how freaky she was and the room was silenced as they all anticipate for Yvie to respond. Beside her, Yvie can feel Brooke look mortified as she stayed silent and even if she didn’t feel it, she can definitely imagine Brooke’s hand shaking in fear of being called out too.

“What? Do I have something in my teeth?” Yvie says with unwavering confidence. She’s been treated like this most of her life so she was used to the stares and insults. As Yvie spoke, it revealed her sharp, glistening teeth that caused people to gasp again and step further away from her. Unimpressed, Yvie grunts, and speaks again, “Okay, let’s get this over with— no, I am not an Animal, and no, I was never bitten by one. I am also not a grandmother, and yes, my hair’s always been like this.” she kept a stern face as she added, “And no, I am not blind. I can see clearly so don’t try playing any pranks on me. And no, none of this is makeup, and no, this is not gangrene.” she points to the black streaks under her eyes and immediately, there were quiet murmurs scattered across the room. Some even shared disgusted faces which were slightly more amusing for Yvie to see.

“You always do this— why do you always do this?” Brooke asks, evidently distressed as she tries blocking out the murmurs. While Yvie clearly is okay being called a freak, she often forgets Brooke has earn own set of insecurities. Yvie sympathetically reaches Brooke’s hand and murmurs a small apology to her. 

Fortunately, the headmistress of Shiz has entered the room. She had a somewhat strict and cunning aura about her especially with the dark clothing and the big hairdo. With two claps, she was able to silence the room immediately which relieved both sisters. With a classy strut and a clipboard in had, she makes her way to the center of the room unprovoked. She raises an eyebrow as she scanned through the list of what Yvie assumes must be the room assignments.

“Whew, okay, there’s a lot of you this year. Room assignments are never fun,” she says and some people chuckle at that. Yvie didn’t expect her to have a sense of humor but it was delightful that not all her professors are stern assholes. “Well anyways, welcome to Shiz, new students! I am Madame Visage, your headmistress, and in behalf of our faculty, I can safely that we have high hopes for all of you.” she says and she looks back down at the clipboard and squints as if she were reading gibberish.

“Now for the rechecking room assignments—” Madame Visage starts but is immediately cut off by both Yvie and Scarlet raising their hands in unison. She politely pauses herself to let the two address their questions. Scarlet glares at Yvie then begins to say her own concern first. “Oh thank Oz, only two issues this year—“

“Madame, I’ve already been assigned to my own private suite,” she says with a cocky grin that Yvie wants to slap off of her face. Everyone who admires Scarlet all sigh in disappointment at the same time. 

Observing that she’s saddened her followers, she immediately adds, “Oh, but you can come over whenever you want!”. Yvie blinks once or twice as she stares at the redhead and her followers in disbelief. Three of Scarlet’s closer friends all look unimpressed but seemed to mask their own disappointment with compliments.

“Is that it, Miss...?” 

“Envy! I’m Scarlet Envy and I’ve applied to your sorcery seminar— it’s the main reason why I’m here. If you recall, I have written an essay called—“

“Oh, you,” Madame Visage says but her voice wasn’t enthusiastic in the slightest. Scarlet’s face slightly crumbles by the off-putting tone, “Listen, I don’t teach my seminar every semester unless someone special were to come along,” she says and Scarlet’s eyes widen, obviously offended by what she said. Yvie, however, smirks at it.

“I— well am I not sp—“ before Scarlet could finish her question, Yvie abruptly interrupts her.

“Madame, we haven’t received our room assignments,” Yvie says and from the corner of her eye, she can see Scarlet look embarrassingly flustered. Madame Visage didn’t seem to mind though; she probably was going to reject every request Scarlet would give anyways.

“Oh, I recognize you!” Madame Visage says and Yvie almost felt flattered until she realized that she was referring to her sister. Yvie bites back an insult as Madame Visage comes closer to them. “You are Miss Brooke Lynn, correct? Future governess of Munchkinland? What a tragically beautiful face you have,” Madame Visage says as Brooke flashes a smile and thanks her kindly. Yvie merely rolls her eyes as their headmistress turns her attention to her. With an unfazed expression, she speaks, “And you must be…?”

“Yvie. The other daughter. I’m beautifully tragic, nice to meet you,” Yvie says sarcastically and Madame Visage snorts, clearly impressed by Yvie’s humor. It warms Yvie’s heart that their headmistress didn’t seem to care for how Yvie looks much different from the rest of the crowd.

“You’re funny, I like you,” Madame Visage says with a laugh and begins to check her files for their names. In the background, she can hear Scarlet mutter a “her face is too,” but she doesn’t bring it up just in case it will cause a big ruckus. “Are you both under the Hytes surname? I can’t seem to find Miss Yvie in this list.”

“Oh, my surname is Oddly.” Yvie says, “I took my mother’s surname since… uhm, I guess my father wanted to commemorate her.” Yvie lies, not wanting to mention how her father basically wanted to erase her name from the Hytes family. After a few page flips, Madame Visage still unsuccessfully finds nothing from her list.

“I don’t think we’ve arranged anything for you— but not to fret! That can be quickly fixed.” she says and Yvie’s heartbeat quickens as she realizes that she might have to move into another room with a person that’s not her sister. Brooke even seems perplexed that they weren’t assigned to the same room.

“I think father forgot I existed,” Yvie whispers to her sister and Brooke shrugs, “Actually, not forgot— I think he’s purposely trying to erase my existence.”

“I know— he’s a dick, Yves,” Brooke whispers back. 

From afar, she notices how Scarlet seemed to still have an issue concerning her essay and getting into Madame Visage’s sorcery class. She didn’t even seem to listen to what was going down at the moment.

“Okay, so which one of you kind ladies would volunteer to room with Miss Yvie?” Madame Visage asks, and the room goes cold, everyone silent. Yvie crosses her arms and hopes that the headmistress would rearrange the room assignments just for Brooke to end up with her.

Then, surprisingly, Scarlet spoke up, raising her arm. Yvie’s blood runs cold, was she not paying attention to her question? Madame Visage took this opportunity and immediately assigned Yvie to Scarlet, “Ah, Miss Envy, you’re special after all!”

“Oh thanks— wait, what’s going on?”

“Miss Yvie, you may share with Miss Scarlet,” Madame Visage says and the room erupts into chaos as they all seemed to give Yvie a jealous death glare. Yvie and Brooke share confused and panicked looks, not knowing how to react or how to change the mind of the headmistress.

“But Madame, I’ve always looked after my sister—“ Yvie says, trying to sound as calm as possible despite the anxiety growing within her.

“The governer made his concern for your sister’s well being very clear. I think it’s best if I take her to my own private compartment where I can assist her whenever she needs—“

“But Madame—“ Scarlet even begins to protest with Yvie but she raises a hand to silence Scarlet. Scarlet and Yvie exchange scared glances before they try and protest again.

“No more buts, you two! I’m sure you two can manage. Now,” Madame Visage approaches Brooke and begins handling her wheelchair on her own as if Brooke was a child who didn’t know how to move herself around. So much for thinking the teachers here weren’t assholes. “Now, does anyone else have an issue with their rooms?” she asks, and everyone stays quiet, picking up their suitcases again, getting ready to leave the room. “Okay good, Miss Brooke, let’s take our leave as well—“ the headmistress says as Brooke awkwardly lets her push her wheelchair, looking very uncomfortable.

Yvie’s eyebrows knit as she watches this obscene situation in front of her. First she assigns her with probably the most obnoxious person in Shiz, and now she’s taking away her sister?

Yvie was not having it.

“Let her go!” Yvie snarls with gripped fists as a dark aura begins to surround her. Everyone gasps as they watch Yvie’s hair defy gravity and the dark aura surrounding Yvie grow larger and larger. Yvie raises her left hand and begins to pull Brooke away from Madame Visage through telekinesis. Brooke’s wheelchair rolled backwards until it was under the grasp of Yvie. Once reunited, the dark aura begins to disperse and Yvie began to calm down.

There was a pregnant silence as everyone eyed at Yvie with both terror and awe. Clearly embarrassed, Brooke covered how flushed she was with her hands, hoping everyone would stop gazing at them. Yvie places an apologetic hand on Brooke’s shoulder, hoping she wouldn’t be mad at her again while she waits to be scolded and expelled by Madame Visage.

“How— how did you do that?” Madame Visage asks and Yvie risks taking a glance at how Madame Visage looked. Surprisingly, she looked impressed, her hands clasped together in delight as he eyebrows were raised. “Oh my Oz, how did you do that?”

“H-how… did she do that?” murmurs Scarlet as everyone around her began whispering in each other’s ears. 

Yvie was quiet, unsure of what to answer. This… magic she has is something she always kept secret and she never thought she would be able to showcase it so easily like that. While she wasn’t so ashamed of her appearance, she felt the opposite for her powers. The idea of being magical was nice, of course, but nobody ever mentioned how much effort it took not to accidentally unleash it in front of everybody. She can count how much she’s accidentally hurt people just because of how incredibly clumsy she was. She didn’t only hurt others but herself as well— if she suppressed her powers for too long, everything inside her body would ache, scream, and possibly morph. That’s why the streaks under her eyes just darken every now and then. This was also the reason why her skin was so stretchy and why her bones were so brittle that she can flex her body in every direction.

Not realizing she’s been quiet for too long, Brooke nudges her, “Yvie, speak up,” Brooke whispers, her face still super flushed.

“I—I uhm, I’m sorry. Sometimes it justs… happens. I promise I’ll try my best to control it—“

“What? Don’t apologize for that— that was talent! Do you ever consider taking a career in sorcery?” Madame Visage says and surprises everyone. Even Brooke looked shocked and maybe a little amused. Yvie felt slightly flattered; nobody in her lifetime would ever commend her on anything. 

With a shy smile, Yvie says, “S-sorcery?”

“Yes, sorcery! I shall take you under my wing and will accept no other students.” Madame Visage states and everyone collectively gasps. If people weren’t envious enough that she gets to room with Scarlet, people were definitely envious now that Madame Visage gave her such a precious offer.

“No other students…?” Scarlet whispers in a blue tone and Yvie smirks to herself. 

Madame Visage claps twice again, immediately silencing the murmurs, “Okay, everyone’s dismissed. Miss Oddly, I’d love to have a word with you,” she says with an enthusiastic expression. While Yvie was glad she finally got complimented on something, everyone else looked aggravated as they picked up their suitcases and left. Scarlet definitely looked the most irked with her deep frown and quiet stature.

Once everyone left except for the headmistress and the two sisters, Madame Visage made her way to Yvie with excitement. Brooke wheels away slightly so she couldn’t get in the way of their conversation. “I have waited for so long to find a student just as special and gifted as you are.” she states and it was music to Yvie’s ears.

“Uh, thank you?” Yvie says, unable to contain her happiness. Brooke’s shame slowly evaporated as well as she looked more proud of Yvie now.

“No, Yvie, you don’t get it— this gift can make you the Wizard’s grand vizier!” Madame Visage says as she reaches out to reach both of Yvie’s hands.

“Grand vizier? Like, the Wizard’s grand vizier?” Yvie says as joy bubbles in her chest. The Wizard was such an inspirational person to Yvie and unquestionably to everyone else in Oz as well. He is a great leader and always pushed Oz towards the right direction. Yvie would kill to assist the Wizard but now, she guesses she doesn’t have to.

“Yes, and I promise I will guide you and train you so that you can use those powers for good. Then maybe, I can write you to the Wizard to notify him of your talents,” Madame Visage says and beside her, Brooke squeals cheerfully, shaking Yvie’s arm with utmost delight. 

“I—I don’t know what to say, Madame,” Yvie says with a bright smile, “Is there a catch? There should be some catch.”

“No catch; just be a great student, make me laugh at times, and everything’ll be good.” Madame Visage says but Brooke clears her throat loudly, implying that there was definitely a catch with Yvie not being able to room with Scarlet. Madame Visage gives a sorry expression, “I’m sorry but I can’t do anything else. I would never lie to the governor.” she states and Brooke sighs disappointingly. 

“Well, it was kinda expected anyways,” Brooke says, “But uhm, Madame, I can push my own wheelchair, if that’s fine by you,”

“Oh, of course! But still, I’ll do my best to help you whenever I can.”

“Thank you.”

“Uhm, excuse me, Madame Visage?” someone reenters the room, shyly staying by the entrance. Recognizing the red hair, Yvie denotes it was Scarlet. “I was thinking whet—“

“Perfect timing, Miss Envy, you can bring Miss Oddly here to your private suite.” Madame Visage says as she approaches the exit holding Brooke’s suitcase while she signals her to come with. Madame Visage undoubtedly wanted to avoid Scarlet’s inquiries and Yvie thinks it was quite entertaining, “I’m expecting a lot from you, Miss Oddly. I’ll be seeing you,” Madame Visage says before leaving and ignoring the presence of Scarlet. Brooke waves a hurried goodbye towards Yvie before leaving alongside Madame Visage.

Then, Yvie was left with Scarlet, both quite speechless because of the situations that just happened this morning. With a pissy expression, Scarlet speaks, “Ugh just… come with me. The room’s not too far away if you don’t consider stairs.”

Yvie then nods as she picks up her suitcase and follows Scarlet silently. Inside her, the excitement still hasn’t faded as she ponders of what her future could possibly hold for her. 

But before the Wizard, she has to deal with her insufferable roommate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> footnotes:  
> — yes, brooke is on a wheelchair, i know. she kinda needed to be because the character she's based on (nessarose) is on a wheelchair.  
> — yvie and brooke's parents are not based on their real parents; they're based on elphaba's real parents, frex and melena. though i made melena a bit kinder, frex is still as douchey as ever.  
> — since i'm using michelle visage as madame morrible, i hope it doesn't look like i'm villainizing michelle, lmao. i just thought she'd fit well as the role.  
> — yvie's appearance is her witch outfit from the monster ball and scarlet's is that outfit of hers in a red wig and red, rose-coated catsuit. though, imagine that she's wearing her legendary look first.  
> — there are four main places in oz i decided to include (not including emerald city) which are gillikin, quadling county, the vinkus, and munchkinland. scarlet and many others will belong to the gillikins (they dominate the university because they're privileged af) while brooke and yvie are from munchkinland. their father is the governor of munchkinland.  
> — honestly, i don't even know if they say ‘oh my god’ in oz just because their religion is sorta confusing but just know the characters will say ‘oh oz’ or ‘oh my oz’ a lot.  
> — some events will directly mirror the musical so if you wanna try getting into that, that'll make a lot of the scenes understandable.


	2. the trouble with school is...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter: Yvie finally enters Shiz but unfortunately gets roomed with an obnoxious student.
> 
> This chapter: School life continues, Yvie learns more about Scarlet, Brooke and Vanjie finally meet, and something bad is happening in Oz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyo, i'm back with less typos! thank you to the people who enjoyed my last chapter, your comments mean a lot! now, i'm back again with my friend althea beta-ing for me, thank jesus for that.
> 
> again, chapters will be slow because school sucks but i really am excited to write more for this fic!
> 
> **TW: slight bullying, slight low self-esteem**
> 
> (follow me on tumblr under @and-oddly-enough !)

The walk going to Scarlet’s private suite was incredibly and unbearably awkward. Usually, Yvie —the introvert that she is—would enjoy silence, but this situation irked her to some degree. With the weird icy glares she receives from Scarlet, she knows they wouldn’t get along at all, especially when Scarlet and Yvie’s personality and aesthetics clash horribly.

At least Yvie gets to have a private suite. It’s better than those other cramped rooms Shiz had to offer. If she were to room with Scarlet there, it wouldn’t take too much time until they start brawling with one another.

“So,” Scarlet says at one point midway through their journey to the suite, “You’re Brooke’s sister?” Scarlet says, maybe in some effort to relieve the tension between them. 

“I didn’t know if you were listening a while ago but yes, I am.” Yvie says, her voice sounding very condescending and impolite. She can see that Scarlet holds in a scowl as they begin ascending a flight of stairs.

“I just didn’t expect it, really,” Scarlet says and Yvie was not sure if that was an insult or not, “I’ve actually met your father and your sister a few times before but I never knew someone like you existed,” Scarlet states and Yvie’s eyes narrow at her.

“When did you visit us?” Yvie asks, genuinely curious. To be fair, it wasn’t insulting that she didn’t know of her existence especially when she was unfamiliar with Scarlet as well.

“A few moonlights ago. My two Momsies had a meeting with the governor and they decided to bring me along.” Scarlet states, sounding very proud, “Your father’s such an… interesting man. I see you took his bluntness,” Scarlet states.

Despite Yvie’s hatred towards her father, Scarlet’s comment was very much true. While her sister took the sweetness but occasional asshole-ness of her mother, Yvie got the quick temperedness and bluntness of her father. It was something she disliked about herself especially when she didn’t want to connect to him in any shape or form. She sometimes would love to pretend that he wasn’t her father and honestly, any other person could possibly be a better father figure than him.

“Yes, I’m aware. He’s a dick.” Yvie says and Scarlet raises an eyebrow at her, maybe a bit surprised by how up and on front Yvie was. “And I’m sure you are a Gillikin…?”

“Mhm, proud daughter part of the Envy and James clan— you heard of them?” 

“Nope,” Yvie says, causing Scarlet’s prideful smile to falter. 

“That’s—that’s the first time I’ve heard that,” Scarlet says, clearly irritated. Yvie merely shrugs as a reply, not wanting to continue the conversation further.

Luckily, they finally made it to Scarlet’s room. Unfortunately, it was on the third floor which caused both of them to be exhausted upon arrival. Then again, most of the third floor is occupied by Scarlet’s suite which makes up for the many flights of stairs. 

The suite was impeccably large, but that was expected. It seems that some parts of the room are already furnished: there were red, floral curtains hung up on windows that had the view of most of the campus. Coincidentally, there were two queen-sized beds laid out, and there were numerous shelves which Yvie thought was too suspicious to be meant for one person. All of it just screams ‘Scarlet Envy’ so much, but at least it wasn’t as terrible as Yvie expected the room to look.

“Why do you have two beds?” Yvie asks as she begins to drop her suitcase on her bed.

As she begins unpacking her items, Scarlet replies, “I was going to use these beds to share with my friends whenever they come over but… of course that wouldn’t be the case now,” Scarlet says, still looking annoyed. “Now I have to share my room with someone who has golf balls for eyes, my Oz...”

“That’s the best insult you have? Really?” Yvie says with narrowed eyebrows, “You literally look like a used tampon, don’t try me,” Yvie adds. She hears Scarlet gasp as she begins to fold out all her outfits.

“Excuse me? I made this outfit all by myself,” Scarlet says and Yvie decides to look back at her for a second. Scarlet does a twirl with her dress and Yvie couldn’t help but notice the loose seams of the dress around the waist.

“Yea, I can tell— there’s literally holes on the side of your dress, dumbass,” Yvie retorts and she hears another gasp from Scarlet. Yvie smirks to herself as she takes all of her books and other items out of her bag.

“W-well this is quite old so the seams must’ve given up,” Scarlet says as a reply, “And y’know what? I’m not here to please you anyways… especially to someone who wears trash bags as dresses,” Scarlet says but her comment didn’t really shake Yvie too much. 

“I know, I’m haggard as fuck, nothing new,” Yvie says and she can hear Scarlet grunt in frustration. Out of nowhere, she feels something hit the back of her head, and when she turns around, she sees that Scarlet hatless— she threw her beret directly at Yvie. The impact wasn’t too harsh, though, it barely made Yvie lightheaded. Scarlet, on the other hand, looks livid. Looking like she’s been pushed to her limits. Yvie didn’t care for her well-being, she merely chuckled with a menacing grin.

“I don’t like you, you’re intolerable,” Scarlet snarls as her cheeks were as red as her outfit. Yvie merely enjoyed Scarlet’s irritation and replied by sticking her tongue jokingly. Even if Scarlet looked like she barely enjoyed their banter, Yvie absolutely adores it— anything that makes Scarlet infuriated somewhat entertains Yvie. “Ugh, I can’t stand your face, I’m going to stay with Ra’jah for a few hours.” Scarlet shuts her suitcase with a slam, glares at Yvie, and walks away with an angry strut.

Yvie doesn’t really say anything as Scarlet exits; there was no clever reply for her to push Scarlet’s buttons even further. Instead, she places a picture frame of her and her mother on the bedside table alongside a black vial her mom once gave to her.

  


//

  


“You wouldn’t even want to share your desk with me? Isn’t that like, too petty– even for you?” Yvie asks, quite irked that Scarlet was hogging the entire table she had at the corner of the room. Scarlet voiced out a ‘hmph’ as she waved her hand, signalling Yvie to shoo. Yvie quirked an eyebrow at her selfishness but decided not to argue. So, she swiftly stole one of Scarlet’s expensive pens and ran back to her bed to write her letter.

“Hey, bitch, Momsie got me that—“

“It’s just a pen, let me fucking borrow it,” Yvie says, and even if Scarlet takes a sharp inhale, she obliges. 

A few days have passed since the rooming assignments had gone wrong and Yvie and Scarlet still barely handle it well. It was surprising that their room was still intact despite how much Yvie was tempted to throw her entire bed at Scarlet. But only a few days have passed and much more can happen in the span of four years.

Yvie ironically grins to herself, she does not want to imagine what those four years would be like. She doesn’t even know if she can last a year in Shiz with this stuck-up roommate of hers. She and Scarlet have been so close to scalping each other every day, and she doesn’t know how long it’ll last until someone physically combusts. It’s safe to say that their relationship will never elevate from barely tolerable roommates.

Yvie sits cross-legged on her bed with a thick book about Oz’s history on her lap and a blank sheet of paper and envelope lying on top of it. It was her makeshift desk since Scarlet has been using it to write… whatever she’s been writing. Yvie thinks she’s too thick-headed to know how to write. 

Yvie, however, needed to write a weekly progress on her and Brooke for her father. It wasn’t the most enjoyable thing but her father never expects lengthy letters from her. If it wasn’t a letter Brooke wrote, her father would most likely skim through it. So, the letter would be short, and Yvie could definitely put zero to no effort writing it.

With Scarlet’s fancy-ass pen, she begins to write in messy cursive,

_Dear father,_

_Rooming’s been terrible in Shiz. I wasn’t informed that you have decided to separate my room with Brooke’s— in fact, I don’t even think you remembered to assign me a room (it was expected anyways)._

_But of course, I’ll take care of Brooke. I promise that she will be safe in my hands._

_As for who I am rooming with now… Have you heard of Scarlet James Envy? She claims she’s met you before— her parents are Ama James and Larena Envy, if I recall correctly. I’ve actually never heard of them before, surprise surprise, but you might._

_Anyways, I’m currently staying in Scarlet’s suite and to summarize my thoughts on Scarlet: she’s annoying._

_Sincerely, Yvangeline_

Once she finished her short letter, she folded it in half and stuffed it in a plain white envelope. She sticks it closed, attaches a stamp with the Emerald City on it, and writes the required addresses and names on the envelope.

“Are you done writing? I assume you’re done writing—“ Scarlet says out of nowhere as she was finished writing as well. She began writing her letter way before Yvie did so it was logical for her to end writing by now. “Here’s my letter, I want you to dr—“

“Woah woah woah, you’re expecting me to do you a favor?” Yvie says, pushing away the envelope with a displeased expression. To retort, Scarlet pushes it right back, insisting Yvie would accept her request.

“It’s just a fucking letter, Oddly, just drop it at the same time you’re dropping yours.” Scarlet demands as Yvie squints, getting handed the letter from Scarlet. The envelope was unsurprisingly red, just like any other thing she owns, and has a faint smell of different types of flower-based perfumes. The scent, however, was unpleasant and too dizzying for Yvie’s taste.

“Yea, exactly, it’s just a letter. Do it on your own,” Yvie says, raising the envelope in the air for Scarlet to get back. With an aggravating smirk, Scarlet swiftly grabs her clutch bag, attempting to flee from the situation. Yvie almost catches up to her. Unluckily for Yvie, she got away. Even Yvie’s fingers almost got trapped as she tried to run through the door to chase Scarlet.

“What a crazy bitch,” Yvie states, sounding peeved. Looking down at the foul-smelling letter, Yvie was tempted to crumple it up and throw it at a random student from her window. Yvie never obeyed anyone’s requests, always being the rebellious type, and she obviously wouldn’t want to satisfy Scarlet by dropping her letter in as well without anything in return.

But maybe, she can use this as an opportunity to read what she wrote. 

Yvie doesn’t know if Scarlet is aware of this habit of hers but when Scarlet writes anything, whether it’d be an essay or letter, she’d emote and show diverse expressions wildly. A while ago, Scarlet had jumped from looking irked and angry to looking giddy and joyful. It would never be subtle either— she once caught Scarlet spinning around on her chair as she smiled brightly, implying that whatever she wrote must be something great.

And with the letter right at her grasp, maybe she can… take a small peak at what Scarlet wrote. It was nothing too grand or evil— she had no one besides Brooke to spread it to and Brooke had next to no one as her friends as well. It’s just a small gander anyways. Nothing will turn out horribly unless she confesses to Scarlet that she read her letter.

Also, Yvie’s petty. That should be a good reason enough for her to open the note.

Unsealing the envelope, she grabs the poshly designed paper out and began reading the lengthy note.

_Dearest, darlingest Momsie and Mumsie,_

_It’s been five days since I’ve last seen you (or maybe a bit more when you receive this) and I’ve already missed you two so much! I will always miss your fresh fruit shakes after each school day_ _,_ _and it’s been so hard to replicate it on my own. Maybe if you write back, you wouldn’t mind giving me your secrets on making the best fruit shake?_

_Anyways, Shiz’s partly became a disaster and a dream come true. Surprisingly, many people seem to recognize me! I guess those theatre shows I did never were completely useless. There’s always some crowd following me whenever I get out of my suite or whenever I walk into the cafeteria— it’s as if I’m the Wizard himself! But of course, I know my limits and shouldn’t abuse my popularity._

(Yvie gives a snort at this, somewhat entertained by how fake this all sounds.)

_On a worse note, rooming has gone wrong. Madame Visage, the headmistress, has rudely decided to get some freaky student as my roommate. I wasn’t even supposed to have a roommate! Madame Visage would never even dare to listen to my complaints or issues. She even declined my request to teach me sorcery despite my great and informative essay! What a horrible headmistress she might be!_

_Horrible Madame Visage is merely half of the issue. The other issue is my deranged roommate. To put it lightly she is… unusually and exceedingly peculiar and quite impossible to describe. Well, the second part of that sentence is untrue but I don’t think you would believe it if I say what she looks like! Just know she’s excessively haggard and is the daughter of the governor of Munchkinland. I didn’t even know he had a daughter besides Brooke, how sad it must be to be her._

_At the same time I’m quite… envious (hah, I know) that she gained the sorcery class I wanted but couldn’t get all because she was somehow born with powers. I, personally, do not believe what I saw and I theorize it was some act done by Morrible and my roommate to confuse and scare me away. It just doesn’t make sense that they would decline my request— I thought the entirety of Oz loved me?_

_At least Ra’jah’s here to lend me a helping hand. With her, I’d of course be able to rise above all these issues. Maybe Madame Visage could finally see how skilled I am once that happens._

_Back to Ra’jah, though— she has been wonderful, like always (not to discredit Shuga and Vanjie, of course). Popularity could be overwhelming but with her, my world easens up. I can’t wait ‘til we get married after we both graduate Shiz. Just thinking about it makes me feel so giddy!_

_Anyways, I suppose that’s all I have to say. I hope you write back soon even if you two have lots of work to deal with. I’ll also make sure to write back immediately as well!_

_Lots of love, Lettie_

Yvie finished reading with raised eyebrows. The letter didn’t contain the juiciest gossip that would satisfy Yvie but it did contain information that Yvie didn’t know of Scarlet before. 

Firstly, she did recognize who Vanjie was. Scarlet only brought her up in once in the letter but Yvie knew that it implied that Vanjie was one of her close friends. How could she have missed seeing that troublemaker on the first day? Yvie recalls Vanjie as the student who always seemed to be glued to Yvie when it came to being classmates from elementary to highschool. They weren’t necessarily close but they got along fine with Vanjie not minding the weirdness of Yvie. Or perhaps Vanjie was only being nice since Yvie remembered that she was quite fond of Yvie’s sister.

Secondly, Scarlet called herself _Lettie_. It was a tiny detail, but to Yvie it was a bit funny. The name was the opposite of grace and elegance and Yvie couldn’t imagine Scarlet ever using that name in front of anybody. She can’t wait to begin bothering Scarlet with that name far into the future so she wouldn’t realize Yvie might have been reading her letters.

Lastly, the most shocking thing was that she was dating Ra’jah. After reading this, their interactions suddenly made much more sense to Yvie. She was the one who guarded Scarlet all day during the first day of classes. She was the one who Scarlet would always go to whenever Yvie became such a bother to her. She was also the one Scarlet was so touchy-feely with, always snuggling up to her when she got the chance.

Yvie didn’t know why but it gave her a bitter feeling. She barely even knew Ra’jah but she felt like she needs to dislike her as much as she dislikes Scarlet. Maybe it’s an instinct thing since Yvie just hates delusional people like Scarlet.

With a disappointed face, she returns the paper back into the envelope and seals it up again. She plans on dropping this by the school’s mailbox around tomorrow morning before her class with Miss West.

For now, she heads off to her sorcery class with Madame Visage.

//

“Day by day, Scarlet’s voice makes me deafer and deafer.” Brooke says as she takes a spoonful of porridge. The sisters, obviously bothered, watch from afar as a massive throng of students surround Scarlet as if she were a magnet. These crowds only grow larger and larger everyday and have no plans on stopping. 

“I’m her roommate— I don’t even know how I manage,” Yvie mentions as she pokes her fruit salad with her fork. “She is insufferable.” Yvie adds, watching Scarlet begin answering questions from her loyal fans.

Every lunch time, this would always happen. It’s only been five days and Yvie doesn’t know if she and Brooke could watch this happen for four years. Scarlet’s fans were borderlining disturbing as they faithfully follow her around like pets. They try their absolute damnest to win Scarlet’s praise but of course, Scarlet, being the person she is, makes it hard for her followers to gain it. That’s at least a bit admirable to Yvie because Scarlet was thankfully being true to everyone. Yvie can barely appreciate liars or fakers.

“And she also has Vanjie as her close friend, I couldn’t believe it,” Yvie mentions and she sees Brooke’s eyes widen in disbelief. 

“Vanjie? As in _the_ Vanjie who Dad resents because when he first dropped by our school, she immediately shouted that he looked like an egg that shone brighter than the sun?” Brooke says with an enthusiastic smile. The corner of Yvie’s lips curve as well just remembering such a fond memory. 

“Yep.” Yvie replies and Brooke immediately scans through the crowd to find the rowdy brunette. She was eventually spotted when Scarlet’s fans shuffled around a bit and was seen sitting down quietly on one of the chairs. She clearly was exasperated by Scarlet’s fans, but keeps herself company by talking to Ra’jah and another person who Yvie assumes was Shuga.

“Wow, I didn’t expect her to be here.” Brooke says, looking a bit mesmerized, “How did she even pass the entrance exam?” Brooke asks and Yvie shrugs, unsure of it as well.

“Is the Mateo clan considered popular?” 

“No, not really, but I do recall something about her mom working here. Not sure about it, though,” Brooke says as the two still kept watching the brunette. It was a bit silent as Brooke seemed to smile longingly as she observes her. It was no secret that Brooke most likely was attracted to Vanjie in some form, since Yvie has been watching her rave over her since they were in elementary. Brooke would always complain that she could never get Vanjie in a class with her and was always envious Yvie spent most of her classes with Vanjie.

Eventually, at some point, the crowd separates a bit as Brooke and Yvie get a clear view of Vanjie. She was deadpanning, obviously bored by the obnoxious fans Scarlet had. Eventually, she also noticed Brooke staring at her and lightens up immediately. Brooke takes in a sharp inhale before she waves a small hello at the petite woman, hoping that Vanjie would join their table instead.

When Vanjie caught sight of Brooke’s wave, she almost jumped out of her seat. She seemed just as excited and eager to see Brooke as much as Brooke was seeing her. But just before Vanjie could hop tables, all eyes were suddenly on Vanjie, then to them. Brooke’s euphoria suddenly dies down as her anxiety takes control. She shrinks back as far as she can as she continues to finish her porridge, pretending that she doesn’t see the huge crowd in front of her.

Yvie purses her lips as she grabs her unused, wooden spoon and rapidly hurls it at the crowd. Instantly, some of them squeal and duck, wanting to avoid such a threatening and murderous weapon, but before it could even hit a certain person, Yvie uses her magic to stop it midway and returns the spoon back into her bowl. Yvie gives a proud smirk, feeds herself, then says, “What? Something in my teeth again?” Yvie says, licking her sharp teeth in front of everyone. With disgusted expressions, they face away and immediately flooded Scarlet with questions about Yvie.

“You, Yvie fucking Oddly, are horrible,” Brooke murmurs beside her, looking unimpressed, “I hate you,” Brooke adds, clearly angered. Yvie takes a sharp inhale as she realizes she acted out of impulse and pettiness again. When will she ever learn?

“Miss Envy, Miss Envy, you are just to good, how do you handle such a beast like her?” some stranger asks, catching Yvie’s attention. Yvie rolls her pupil-less eyes, too used to insults like this to be affected. But after that one insult, someone else followed, then someone else until everyone’s just throwing insults towards Yvie back and forth. Hearing people mock Yvie is nothing new but Yvie admits this can also be too… overwhelming. 

“Oh but Scarlet, you are such a martyr for being able to deal with her! I wish I could have your strength and endurance,” someone says and Yvie really contemplates throwing her spoon again without tricking them. Scarlet actually looks a bit bewildered by the statement but just accepts it with a radiant grin. 

With a giggle, Scarlet replies, “These things are meant to try us, I suppose.”

“Oh poor Scarlet, she’s forced to reside with someone— someone like _her_ ,” someone states as she glares at Yvie with a growl. Yvie wants to bark back but Brooke holds her back before she does. The insults begin piling in again and Yvie simply wants to drown them all out. She knew there were many aspects of her that were unlikeable but she didn’t really want to be reminded of it. 

“We just want to tell you that we’ll support you no matter what, Miss Envy!” someone says, “We’ll always be here for you!” they add and many people cheer in unison. Yvie could tell that Scarlet was reluctant as her lip quivered for a moment, but she eventually pulled through with a fake smile and some bullshit speech which appeased many of her fans. Not so much of her friends, though; they look as exhausted as ever.

Thankfully, the loud bell outside has rang. Everyone began to disperse as they say their farewell statements to Scarlet. Scarlet, as fake as she can be, also responds back. Yvie doesn’t know how Scarlet manages to keep up that facade all day. For Yvie, it was extremely dizzying. At least she knew how to balance her time with friends and her time with her fanbase since it seemed like her friends really admired Scarlet even if they seemed sick of her fans.

“Do you think I should talk to Vanjie now that she’s free?” Brooke says out of the blue as she wheels towards the hallway. They had around ten minutes before their classes would start so Brooke had a chance to call for Vanjie’s attention before they leave the cafeteria. Yvie watches as Vanjie almost descends into their hallways. Yvie licks her lips as she nods, hoping Brooke would catch her before she left. 

Then, Brooke pauses, still not doing anything. Yvie realizes that Brooke’s anxiety was overtaking her again and is restraining her from reaching out to Vanjie, “Never mind, let’s just go.”

“Oh no, fuck that, I’m helping you out,” Yvie says as Brooke’s eyes widen in concern. 

“Yvie, Yvie, my Oz, _don’t—_ ”

Yvie, with a fast sprint, catches up to Scarlet and her friends and shouts “Boo!” loudly. Scarlet squeals like the pussy she is while the other three merely jump in surprise. The four stop their tracks as they all turn around to eye Yvie judgmentally (actually, Vanjie was more astounded) as Yvie chuckles dorkily.

Scarlet, being the most infuriated out of the four, slapped Yvie with the clutch bag she was carrying. She grunts as Yvie only grins in entertainment.

“What in the fuck, Oddly? Why do you keep doing this?” Scarlet asks, looking like she was contemplating murder.

“I think you forgot everything that happened during lunch time—oh wait, you’re the same person who couldn't get into Madame Visage because of that half-assed essay! I shouldn’t be expecting much intelligence in that delusional head of yours, anyways.” Yvie responds quite mockingly, making Scarlet as excessively red as her hair. 

“Get to the point,” Scarlet demands.

“Well actually, I’m mostly here to talk to Vanjie,” Yvie mentions and Vanjie lights up again. Scarlet steps aside, looking like she’s a bit familiar with their friendship.

“Yes, I’m here, at your motherfucking service,” Vanjies says with a hair flip, “It’s a surprise to see your ass here— I didn’t even think that bitch of a father of yours would pay your tuition.” Vanjie mentions, her vibe as nonchalant as ever. Yvie’s glad that there’s someone else besides her sister who can see past the queerness of Yvie.

“Same, but I’m here, I made it,” Yvie says a bit triumphantly, “Also, not to end this conversation too early but my sister wants to talk to you,” Yvie says as she points to her sister who was nervously wheeling up to them but was a bit behind. Vanjie smiles even more when Yvie mentions Brooke as she swiftly and roughly pushes Yvie and Scarlet away to get to Brooke.

Brooke appeared to be very startled when Vanjie ran at her but seems to be okay once Vanjie inevitably gives her a heartwarming hug. 

“Wow, they’re cute—reminds me of our friendship, Scar,” Yvie says and Scarlet elbows her harshly in displeasure. “Ow—! Bitch, stop hurting me,” Yvie says and Scarlet merely rolls her eyes at her.

“Okay, I’m leaving,” Scarlet says as she begins strutting away dramatically, “See you later, Oddly,” Scarlet says as she intertwines her arms with Shuga and Ra’jah and begin walking away, leaving Yvie alone with Brooke and Vanjie.

Then again, Brooke and Vanjie were too engrossed in their conversation to notice Yvie. So, Yvie leaves without them. She had a different class anyways and the two can manage without Yvie.

//

Yvie doesn’t regret choosing today of all days to drop the envelopes. The weather was warm but not hot enough to be unbearable and the protesters didn’t have anything planned on this day. There were only some traces of dropped protest signs and lots of shed Animal fur left in front of Shiz which can be a little bit… saddening. 

With the prejudice that Animals are experiencing today, Yvie would’ve gladly joined the protest if it weren’t for her studies getting in the way. After all, she could somewhat relate to the Animals with her being somewhat of a misfit as well. It was also very irritating that the university barely accepted any Animals to study along with them with the exception of one Ram who was accepted last year, one Lion who was one of their smartest professors, and many of the janitors being a mixed race of Animals.

As some people were cleaning up the streets before any vehicles passed through, Yvie took this opportunity to cross the street to reach the mailbox. On the other side of the street, there seemed to be two people surrounding the mailbox already. Yvie squints; she recognizes those two. One of them says a joke and the other one cackles loudly— now she really recognizes them.

“Vanjie!” Yvie yells and approaches them. She didn’t really call out Ra’jah’s name just because they aren’t too familiar with one another. With Ra’jah being Scarlet’s girlfriend, Yvie thinks she most likely dislikes Yvie just like Scarlet does.

“Yvie! What’cha doing here?” Vanjie says, her tone as energetic as ever. 

“Dropping some mail, duh,” Yvie says as she waves the two envelopes in the air, “The red one is Scarlet’s, obviously. Don’t know why she asked me to do it especially seeing that you two are here.” Yvie adds as she finally reaches the mailbox. She immediately drops it inside but stays for a few to converse. “Why’re you two here? I thought that your mom lives here,”

“Yea, she does, but my sisters still live with my dad back in the farm so I gotta write them something,” Vanjie says, “And Miss O’Hara’s here because of some princess bullshit, I don’t know,”

“You’re a princess?” Yvie asks curiously.

“Well, yea, but I never refer to myself with that title. There’s no other Winkie at Shiz so everyone would probably think I’m crazy if I say that I am,” Ra’jah says. She’s much more polite than what Yvie expected her to be. “But I’m not doing any princess bullshit, I’m just writing something for my parents, just the normal stuff. What about you? I thought you hate your dad?”

“Duh, of course I do, but I have to give him weekly reports on Brooke just because it wasn’t enough that she was writing him letters,” Yvie says as she begins to lean on the mailbox.

“Your dad’s such a pain in the ass,” Vanjie states nonchalantly as if she’s said it many times before, “You know how hard it was for me to sneak Brooke _and_ her fucking wheelchair out of her room just so we can hangout back then? I had to fucking drop Brooke so I can grab her wheelchair.” Vanjie says and Yvie laughs dorkily, recalling the memory as well.

“Then there was a time where you couldn’t steal the wheelchair so you just had to carry her the whole time?” 

“Yes! Oh my fucking Oz, yes! I was exhausted that day, bitch. Those tangled legs are heavy as fuck,” Vanjie exclaims and the other two laugh again, amused by her storytelling. “Anyways, I need to head back to class in around fifteen minutes before Professor Del Rio my pounds my ass for being late again,” Vanjie says.

“I have Miss West so—wait, don’t you share that class with me, Oddly?” Ra’jah asks and Yvie nods. “You should come with us then since we’re technically heading to the same place,”

“I—you… want me to go with you?” Yvie asks in disbelief. 

“Yea, I mean, if you want to.” Ra’jah says and Yvie thinks how weird it is for her to not be judgmental towards Yvie at all. 

With furrowed eyebrows, Yvie says, “I thought you disliked me?”

“What? No!” Ra’jah says, looking shocked, “Scarlet says some stuff to me and, of course, I love her, but she lives in her own world— I can’t believe everything she says. Plus, I do know a thing or two about being a misfit like you,” Ra’jah says and points to some small and numerous gemstones that are glued to her cheek. If Yvie remembered correctly, it had something to do with Winkie royalty, and it absolutely looks gorgeous. “People say they look like acne or think it’s some sort of disease which is… kinda awful but hey, I don’t really care.”

“I think they look fantastic,” Yvie says, observing the gems closer.

“Thanks but girl, from afar, they look like someone splattered white paint on me,” Ra’jah says, “But really, I don’t hate you. You can be blunt sometimes but I get where you’re coming from. Vanjie tells me you’re nice anyways and I believe her more than whatever Scarlet’s fanbase has been saying.”

“Ugh, don’t remind me of them.” Yvie says, “Such bastards.”

“And dumb as fuck,” Vanjie adds, very peeved, “It’s always so claustrophobic too. I just wanna be… free, ya know? I hate how they feel like they have control over me just ‘cause I ain’t Scarlet,” Vanjie vents and Yvie hears a hum of agreement from Ra’jah.

“If we have Shuga here, we can make our own “Oppressed by Scarlet’s Fanbase Club”.” Ra’jah says and the three laugh, “Okay, y’know what, we should probably get going.” 

“Yea, we’ve been hanging out with this mailbox for too long.” Yvie says and on cue, they get going, and head to their designated classrooms.

//

At some point, they had to leave Vanjie in the hallway, but it wasn’t a long walk from Vanjie’s classroom to Ra’jah and Yvie’s. Eventually, they made it on time— even if they were the last ones who arrived at the classroom. Yvie could feel judgmental eyes land on her when people saw her entering with Ra’jah. Thankfully, the stares die down when Ra’jah begins to hangout with Scarlet. That’s one benefit of Scarlet’s popularity, Yvie supposes.

Then, because of how last minute Yvie and Ra’jah arrived, their professor walked in immediately when Yvie sat down. Their professor mostly taught social studies and the history of Oz, which Yvie thought was quite interesting. Their teacher’s passion for the subject also made their classes less boring and more enjoyable.

“Good morning, class, everyone’s looking very chipper as always,” Their teacher, Miss West, spoke with a smile. She was always like this, very bubbly and optimistic towards everyone. She was a favorite amongst many students but was equally hated by some because of her appearance. Miss West was the only Animal faculty member of their school (with her being a Lion) excluding the janitors and she was often targeted by many of the school’s rowdier students. 

“Okay so, I’ve read all of your essays by this morning and I have to say I’m impressed by the progress so far!” Miss West says as she heads to the center of the class, placing all of her papers down, “Most of it is astounding but I have to mention that some of you—especially you, Miss Envy—have focused on form over content which I highly discourage.” she adds and Yvie smirks to herself. Yvie had read Scarlet’s essay the other day when she asked her to proofread it and Yvie said the exact same thing. Of course, Scarlet would never listen, but at least Miss West was calling her out now.

“Our other professors don’t seem to have a problem with it,” Scarlet bites back, putting her chin on her palm while her elbow is on the table. She was clearly unfazed by Miss West and her obliviousness always makes Yvie annoyed.

“Maybe Miss West isn’t like the other professors,” Yvie retorts and Scarlet, alongside her fans, all give Yvie a sharp look.

“Ooh, the gremlin is pressed,” Scarlet sneers which evoked some muffled giggles. Yvie merely looks away from Scarlet and pays her full attention to Miss West.

“Class, calm down— Miss Yvie does have a point. As you know, I’m the sole Animal of this faculty, but it wasn’t always this way.” Miss West says with a bittersweet expression, “Back then, I remembered when you walked down the hall, you’d see an Antelope explicating a sonnet—or, or a Snow Leopard solving a mathematical equation! Don’t you see, dear students, that Oz is becoming less and less… colorful?” Nina says and eyes Yvie for a second. Everyone else just seemed exasperated that Miss West was possibly going to ramble the same thing over and over again. “This leads me to my first question— who can tell me what sent these events in motion?”

Yvie raises a hand, “From what I’ve heard, it all started with the great drought,” Yvie says, remembering what she’d studied last night.

Miss West look impressed and nodded, “Exactly! Food grew scarce, people were angry because of the famine, and then the question became, “Whom can we blame?” Can anyone tell me what the term ‘Scapegoat’ means?”

Once Miss West threw in another question, Yvie took another opportunity to raise her hand again. Everyone simply rolled their eyes at Yvie, causing Miss West to give out a tired sigh. “Does anyone besides Miss Yvie have an answer?” Miss West asks, prompting Yvie to lower her hand. Surprisingly, Scarlet raised hers, “Ah, yes Miss Scar—“

“I don’t see why you can’t just teach us history instead of always harping on the past.” Scarlet answers disrespectfully. This caused some murmurs of agreement but Miss West, with an unsteady stature, shushes everyone before it gets too chaotic.

“Well—“ Miss West says awkwardly, “Perhaps these questions will enlighten you,” She says as she approaches their chalkboard and turns it over. The room grew eerily silent as they all gaze at what is written on the chalkboard with fright. Instead of the questions being displayed, there was something more… offensive written on the board. In bright, red chalk and big letters, the board read: ‘ _ANIMALS SHOULD BE SEEN AND NOT HEARD’._

Yvie becomes infuriated. She turns to look at all her classmates to spot whoever could do such a horrible act. But to her surprise, everyone seemed shocked—even Scarlet looked bothered. After a few more seconds of confusion and worry, Miss West eventually speaks up, “Who’s responsible for this?” she says, her voice the softest it has ever been. “I—students, this may seem, uhm, a little sudden but I’m going to dismiss the class early. Just for now.” the students all didn’t seem to process what she said but Miss West speaks again, “You heard me— class dismissed!” 

Everyone besides Yvie obliged, standing up and heading out swiftly. They all seemed equally as troubled as they were glad they got a free period today. Yvie, on the other hand, was immensely concerned for Miss West to leave this early. She was pacing around the same area as her eyes were fixated on the message written on the board.

“Animals should be seen and not heard…?” Yvie reads the message as she stands, grabbing her handbag from the side. Miss West jolted and looked back, unaware of Yvie’s presence.

“Oh, it’s just you, Miss Yvie…” she says, her voice shaky, “Don’t worry about me, go ahead and enjoy this free period with your friends.”

Yvie snorts, “Friends? That’s funny— I don’t have any.” Yvie replies and Nina raises an eyebrow, “Okay, I do have about three but they’re probably spending their time with Scarlet.”

“Oh, I guess you don’t want to enter that territory,” Miss West replies and they both laugh. Yvie opens her bag and grabs the two sandwiches she made this morning. One was supposed to be for Brooke but Yvie knows she could always just get the same thing she gets from the cafeteria. 

“Here,” Yvie approaches Miss West and sits on her table, “Since you look so down in the dumps,” Yvie hands her the neatly wrapped sandwich and Miss West gladly accepts it.

“Oh, thank you kindly,” Miss West replies and eats the sandwich in one go, swallowing the entire thing. Yvie laughs as she merely takes one bite of her sandwich.

“Y’know, words like these shouldn’t bother you— I mean, insults would forever bother me but I know how to snap back—but that’s beside the point. What I mean is that this was probably written by some asshole and you shouldn’t listen to them.” Yvie says, her words not so eloquent as she wanted them to be, but Miss West appreciates it anyways.

“Yes, of course but…” Miss West grabs the washcloth from one of the table’s drawers, “But have you heard of what’s going on in Oz recently? Such—such dreadful things,” Miss West says and shudders as she looks at the words one more time before erasing it.

“What things?” Yvie asks, eyes narrowing.

“The last Animal professor from Quox has been fired.”

“Professor Heart? The one who teaches literature?”

“Yes, her! And—and not only that but she lost all powers of speech. She… she can’t talk anymore.” Miss West states, clearly terrified, “And I’m sure you know Asia O’Hara, the Owl who’s the head of Munchkinland’s Air Mail service?”

“Has she…?”

“Yes, she can’t talk either. Well, that’s what I hear from the rumors…” Miss West says then pauses as she appears crestfallen, “But I don’t know, the rallies get smaller and smaller and I can’t help but—“ Miss West coughs then coughs even more to the point a growl escapes her lips. Yvie slightly tenses as she comes close to rub Miss West’s back in comfort.

“Miss West, are you feeling sick? Do you want me to fetch a glass of water?” Yvie asks but Miss West refuses, shaking her head.

“No, no need to but thanks, Miss Yvie. I don’t know what came over me.”

“Do you think that, uhm… some Animals are forgetting how to speak? How is that even possible?”

“I— I don’t know.” Miss West replies. Just as she does, there was a knock at the door. Without hesitation, the person walks in with a stern expression on their face. Yvie and Miss West both look at the person, Yvie distancing herself from Miss West a bit.

“I heard there was some sort of disturbance in class, what’s going on?” Madame Visage asks, “And Yvie, since you have nothing going on, I’ve decided to give you a bonus class on sorcery. I’m expecting you to be on your way in around five minutes.”

Yvie didn’t complain about the extra class; solo classes with Madame Visage were always fun. “Yes, of course,” Yvie replies, finishing the last bite of her sandwich before slinging her bag over her shoulder. 

“I’ll talk to you, Miss West, later,” Madame Visage says before exiting again. Miss West simply sighs as she nudges Yvie with a smile.

“You better go,”

“How about you?”

“I’ll be fine, Miss Yvie.” Miss West says reassuringly.

Yvie sighs but gives her a smile as well, “If something bad is actually happening, someone must’ve reported it to the Wizard already. That’s why we have the Wizard, right?”

“You’re—you’re right, Miss Yvie. Nothing truly bad would ever happen in Oz.” Miss West says, feeling slightly calmer than a while ago, “Thank you, Miss Yvie. You better get going before Madame Visage throws a fit.”

“Oh, I’m used to it, don’t worry.” Yvie says and Miss West chuckles, “See you tomorrow, Miss West.”

“See you too, Miss Yvie.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> footnotes:  
> \- scarlet's parents are inspired by glinda's parents... except i used ama clutch as the other parent so scarlet would have two momsies.  
> \- the events of this fic span from the song what is this feeling to something bad. some lines are taken from the original script, some were revised so it would not be exactly the same.  
> \- ah yes, vanjie is boq in this fic. shuga is there because... shuga. i think she's meant to be either shen shen or pfanee, i dunno.  
> \- the reason why they haven't seen vanjie in a week is that the scarlet's crowds always cover her up in some way. i know it doesn't seem logical but just stick with me, lmao.  
> \- unlike boq and nessa, brooke and vanjie have met before. boq is originally from munchkinland and i wanted vanjie to have the same thing but a little bit tweaked. just know that brooke, vanjie, and yvie have some history with each other.  
> \- if i remember correctly, there is only one animal studying in shiz in the book. in this fic, i made it kahanna. animals are basically the mistreated race of oz so yea, there's that.  
> \- okay, so i don't remember every detail of the book but i do remember something about fiyero having some sort of gems on his face? not sure. since he is a prince, i made ra'jah a princess (how fancy).  
> \- nina west is miss west, by the way, and is a lion. i don't know how you wanna imagine how the animals look but i just think of them as animals but they walk like humans.


	3. find the prettiest girl, give her a whirl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter: Yvie and Scarlet get used to each other being roommates, Yvie finds out Vanjie is studying at the same place, and something bad is happening at Oz. 
> 
> This chapter: Scarlet and Yvie team up to hook both Brooke and Vanjie together, Scarlet hosts a dance party, and Yvie realizes something really important.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oml, this is the longest chapter so far. these chapter are getting longer and longer and i'm getting more stressed out because i gotta balance my school life, my writing, and my art (nah, i'm kidding, i'm not that stressed). i gave birth to 8k worth of words in one day and i think i deserve a year off of writing (nah, i'm kidding again, naomi smalls even said that life wasn't fair). but i hope you enjoy this! i hope the fic isn't too fast but i'm trying to go with the flow of the musical and there are many time hops in the musical.
> 
> also, i'm gonna discontinue footnotes because they're kinda useless, lol. so if you have questions, drop by my tumblr and send me an ask or just comment your questions down below.
> 
> i'd appreciate it if you leave comments or kudos if you enjoy this! it really makes me feel better about writing this fic. special thanks to my friend althea for betaing again and to my scyvie discord friends for helping me when i don't know what to write for certain parts. 
> 
> hope you enjoy!
> 
> **tw: slight bullying**
> 
> (follow me @and-oddly-enough on tumblr!)

In the middle of class—for the hundredth time, Scarlet nudges Yvie’s elbow subtly. Yvie was so close to let out a growl of annoyance at Scarlet but manages to hold it back when she realizes that she still was in the middle of Professor Hides’ boring literature class. Though Professor Hides was old and bordering on deaf and blind, Yvie knows that when she lets out a growl, there’d be lots of reactions, and their professor might finally notice them. 

Getting back to Scarlet, Yvie mouths a ‘no’ at Scarlet, hoping she wouldn’t bother her anymore. Apparently, she thought this was the best time to pass notes in class. Not to Yvie but to Ra’jah who was literally sitting at the opposite end of the room. The reason she kept bothering Yvie was that Yvie can subtly pass the note to Ra’jah through her telekinesis so their professor wouldn’t notice. Even if she was blind, they were close enough to the front; which makes passing notes pretty risky.

“Come on, just do it, pretty please?” Scarlet whispers softly, giving a little pout. “Y’know I won’t stop bugging you anyways,” Scarlet adds and Yvie wants to sigh. Instead, she just rolls her eyes and nods. With a wave of her finger, the note flew across the room silently to Ra’jah. Even if most of their classmates saw it, Yvie knows that they’d be too faithful to Scarlet to ever snitch on her. After Yvie passes it, she watches Ra’jah patiently, waiting for her to finish her reply so Yvie can send back the note to Scarlet.

Yvie doesn’t even know what’s so important that will prompt the couple to pass notes in class. To Yvie, it was immensely childish, and she knew Scarlet and Ra’jah were much better than that. Then again, Yvie caught a glimpse of that note a while ago. It was quick since she knew Scarlet was watching, but she definitely saw the words ‘Vanjie’ and ‘Brooke’ written on the paper. At the moment, they were sharing a class with them as well, but the two of them were seated next to each other at the corner of the classroom. Sometimes, Yvie would see Scarlet be distracted by how flirty the other two are being. Yvie doesn’t blame her, though. She’d occasionally look back as well since they’ve been quite bothersome yet adorable at the same time.

It’s actually been a month since they first started interacting. Yvie noticed how close they’ve been judging by how lonely Yvie was for the past month. Every other day, Brooke and Vanjie would ditch Yvie and Scarlet to have their own thing, and even if they were undeniably cute, Yvie felt glum that she was all alone at her own table. Yvie was still obviously happy for Brooke, of course; it would be petty to hog Brooke for herself only. Even so, it did remind Yvie how friendless she was. The only friends she deemed as ‘friends’ besides her sister and Vanjie were Ra’jah, Shuga, and Scarlet. Over the month, they grew more comfortable with her, and Yvie in return found them interesting and enjoyable as well. Scarlet was the only exception to that since she still showcases her distaste in Yvie occasionally. Well, at least the insults weren’t a daily thing. To Yvie, that was already a sign of progress on their relationship.

Because despite the jabs and sarcastic remarks, Yvie did enjoy Scarlet’s company a bit more nowadays. Her delusions were entertaining and even if they don’t want to admit it, their humor was so similar. What she thought was a horrible situation slowly became bearable.

“Hey, rat bastard, pass the note back,” Scarlet whispers harshly, her eyes pointing at Ra’jah. Yvie gives her a scowl. She did mention it was bearable but their relationship wasn’t the best, obviously.

“Why do you have to drag rats into this?” Yvie whispers back as she waves her finger in the air without even looking at Ra’jah. That one month of sorcery lessons from Madame Visage does have good use, at least. The note lands gracefully on Scarlet’s table as Scarlet merely rolls her eyes at Yvie. Scarlet begins unfolding the note and once she reads Ra’jah’s reply, she immediately perks up, her lips widening into a bright smile. This definitely made Yvie curious but she wholeheartedly did not want to get caught by Professor Hides.

Thankfully, Scarlet didn’t send back another note in the last thirty minutes they had class. But once class ended, surprisingly, Scarlet grabbed Yvie directly and dragged her, Ra’jah, Shuga, and Vanjie out of the classroom before Yvie even registered what was going on. Yvie didn’t even know why she was so thrown off by Scarlet grabbing her hand— maybe it was the suddenness of it all. Either way, Yvie only processed what was happening halfway through their trip to somewhere and began protesting against whatever Scarlet had in mind.

“The fuck is going on, Scarlet?” Yvie asks as she shakes Scarlet’s hand off. Yvie realizes her cheeks are slightly red. Maybe it was from exhaustion? 

“Hey, we were going to head to the same place anyways so stop complaining,”

“No, as in, what must be so important that you decided to literally drag Ra’jah, Vanjie, and I out of class in such a rush?”

“Yea, maybe ask next time?” Vanjie adds, clearly infuriated she didn’t get to walk Brooke to her class.

“I literally dragged you out to talk to you about my plan of hooking you and Brooke together but go off, I guess.” Scarlet says with a smirk as she begins climbing the stairs. After that, Vanjie immediately sputters, startled by what Scarlet said. Ra’jah laughs a bit, already knowing of the plan, but Yvie and Shuga were simply curious at to what shit Scarlet has came up with.

“I--I can--uh, I can do that fine by myself, you hoe,” Vanjie replies but her voice was shaky and uncertain. Yvie snorts at how pathetic she was.

“Oh honey, don’t lie to us, you stupid lesbian,” Shuga says and it makes everyone laugh loudly except for Vanjie. Vanjie musters up a fake chuckle but she still sounded infuriated. “Aw, Vanjie, sweetie, I’m joking,” Shuga adds and Vanjie pouts at her.

“You guys don’t know how hard it is!” Vanjie exclaims and everyone stares at her in disbelief.

“You’ve known Brooke for like, fifteen years, but go off I guess,” Yvie says and Vanjie flushes. Shuga mutters ‘stupid lesbian’ again and it brings out a soft laugh from everyone. 

“Hey! This is bullying, I’m leaving,” Vanjie says, stopping her steps mid-step. Scarlet was quickly alarmed and grasped Vanjie’s hand before she could bail. Scarlet really seemed persistent and she undoubtedly trusted her plan wholeheartedly.

“No! Don’t— don’t leave, I promise this will 100% work,” Scarlet says and Vanjie quirks up an eyebrow.

“How d’ya know? Firstly, you almost failed at maths, and secondly you’re delusional as fuck.”

“And who has a girlfriend between the two of us?” 

Vanjie stayed silent for a second until she sighed and said, “I fucking hate you,”. Ra’jah and Shuga laugh in amusement as they proceed to walk another level up. Yvie silently trails behind, oddly feeling slightly off even if she didn’t understand why. She really must be catching some sort of fever, or maybe she was immensely overworked. Either way, she needed to give herself some time to rest.

Eventually, they all make it to Scarlet’s suite. Like always, it smelled like fresh roses and was always neat and tidy just because Scarlet loved it that way. Yvie was suspicious of her eagerness to be tidy but after a couple of days, Yvie praised it a lot. After all, Yvie was not the… cleanest of people. Her room back in Munchkinland was a dumpster fire wherein everything she had was just tossed around the room.

“God, I wish I lived here,” Shuga stated, “It’s like heaven in this room. Meanwhile, Tammie and I have been fuckin’ around in our small-ass room. Nothing’s tidy,” Shuga adds as she sits down on Scarlet’s bed primly. Scarlet and Ra’jah join her while Vanjie tackles Yvie’s bed, faceplanting herself unto the bedsheets. Yvie takes off her heels as well and joins Vanjie, lying back down into her bed in relief.

“And our room is much worse than that, right Vanj?” Ra’jah says and Vanjie only replies by raising a thumbs up in the air which prompts a few people to laugh.

“Why, thank you, I work pretty hard on this since my asshole of a roommate doesn’t understand the concept of organizing,” Scarlet says shoots Yvie a judgmental glare. Yvie raises the bird in reply, too exhausted to reply some kind of witty insult back. “Anyways, back to the main topic at hand. I think I have a foolproof plan to get Vanjie and Brooke together. Or actually, this is more of a plan for their first date since I know Vanjie isn’t good with planning dates,”

“Hey, that was with Aquaria and that was one time--”

Scarlet abruptly continues her spiel, “I will reserve the Ozdust Ballroom for this--I have all the money in the world to do so--and we’re gonna hold a dance party for Vanjie and Brooke.” Scarlet explains excitedly but no one seemed to reciprocate the same anticipation as her. They all seemed a bit perplexed-- even Vanjie sat up from her position to look at Scarlet with concern.

“Scarlet, I love you, but you are a fucking dumbass,” Vanjie says, disgruntled.

Scarlet, with an offended expression, replies back, “Thanks, really appreciate you saying that for the hundredth time,” She leans back against the headboard with crossed arms.

“I dunno about you but last time I checked, Brooke’s legs were still tangled,” Vanjie retorts sarcastically, “I don’t think she’ll have a great time in a dance party when she can’t actually, y’know,  _ dance _ ,” Vanjie adds and Yvie actually ponders about it for a moment.

Out of all the people in the room, there was no one who knew Brooke more than Yvie. Vanjie comes to a close second but Yvie was literally there since Brooke was born. With that, Vanjie was undeniably wrong. Brooke, despite disabled, was determined to teach herself any kind of dance she can learn. With enough perseverance and hard work, she actually mastered different kinds of techniques and skills thanks to the help one of their teachers in highschool, Miss Sahara Davenport. But then there was some point that Brooke stopped seeing her. If Yvie recalls correctly, there were rumors that Miss Davenport died of some illness; hence why Brooke had no more classes for dance. However, Brooke came through it all and continued her legacy by independently teaching herself how to dance. After a few books, self-teaching, and help from their neighbour named Alyssa who would teach Brooke occasionally, Brooke became the best dancer Yvie’s ever witnessed.

Vanjie most likely didn’t know of this all because Brooke was a secluded and reluctant person. Like Yvie, she had her own insecurities, but Brooke had a different approach of handling it. While Yvie liked address her issues more out loud, Brooke was more quiet, keeping all her problems to herself. Yvie only managed to know about Brooke’s dancing when Brooke accidentally fell out of her wheelchair in her room and couldn’t get back up. Yvie had to help her get back on while Brooke panickedly explained the situation truthfully. Brooke could never lie under stress.

“Brooke can dance,” Yvie mentions and everyone turns to her, eyeing her weirdly. “What? Brooke knows how to dance. Not on her feet but on her wheelchair, of course.” Yvie adds, still keeping a serious tone. She needed to make sure the others didn’t think whatever she said was some sort of joke.

“Bitch, how?” Vanjie asks, still in a state of uncertainty. 

“She got private lessons from Miss Davenport, remember her?”

“Miss Davenport cannot dance,” Vanjie replies and it took a second for Yvie to understand who she was referring to.

“That’s Miss A’keria, you fuck. And she can dance… only if it involved her ass shaking, that is,” Yvie says, “But I’m referring to Miss Sahara. She taught phys-ed and dance. She tutored Brooke some time ago,” Yvie adds and the group all seemed intrigued by this newfound information. Scarlet most definitely was pleased by hearing this, evident by how wide her grin was when she heard that Brooke could dance.

“Perfect! That’s perfect,” Scarlet says, “A dance party would be perfect for Brooke, she will absolutely enjoy it. I mean, you need to ask her out first, of course, but how bad can that be?” Scarlet says and Vanjie’s eyebrows were knitted in terror. 

“I mean…” Vanjie starts, still very nervous as she fiddles with her hair, “How did you and Ra’jah get together?” Vanjie asks, prompting Scarlet and Ra’jah to stare each other before smirking. But before any of them could reply, Shuga jumps in.

“It was bad,” Shuga mentions and receives a snarl of protest from Scarlet, “Scarlet would always say they were just upfront about their feelings, but, the truth is there was a lot of denial involved,” Shuga says and the couple immediately looks alarmed.

“It always runs with lesbianism.” Yvie comments.

“Always, girl,” Shuga replies, “It finally ended when Ra’jah threw a bouquet of roses at Scarlet’s window and shouted her confession.” Shuga adds and Vanjie and Yvie laugh at its ridiculousness. Scarlet solely looks unimpressed, seeming like she wants to repress that memory.

“So what, do I just throw some flowers at Brooke and hope for the best?”

“Your choice girl. I did it and my girl is still here,” Ra’jah says. Scarlet, looking enamored, smiles at her and blows her a kiss. After, she turns back to Vanjie to relay her the plan again.

“Again, I’ll hold a party. I’ll announce it to everyone until Brooke hears of it. Then, you go up to her, ask her out, whether it’d be through confessing truthfully or throwing flowers, then invite her to the dance party. I assure you that everything will be wonderful after that.” Scarlet says and Vanjie nods slowly, still hesitant that she’s agreeing to Scarlet’s plan. To Yvie, it wasn’t actually a particularly bad plan. In fact, she thought it was simple yet doable, but the problem is that lesbians could never, ever function during confessions.

“Maybe we can do that tomorrow to get things done? The quicker, the better, since you two have been pining for more than a decade,” Scarlet suggests and everyone besides Vanjie hum in agreement. Yvie nudges Vanjie but her reluctance doesn’t really decrease from it.

“If you don’t wanna do it, I won’t force you, of course,” Scarlet says and this is probably the most caring Scarlet has ever been. Vanjie looks up, inhales sharply, then raises a hand.

“No—no, I’m gonna fucking do it,” Vanjie says with a determined tone, causing everyone to cheer for her loudly, “Tomorrow, I’ll walk up to her at lunch and I’m not gonna pussy out.”

“I’ll be there so if you do mess up, I’m just gonna tell Brooke that you have a crush on her,” Yvie says and Vanjie scrunches up her nose.

“No! No, that wouldn’t be romantic. I want it to be like, really romantic. Or cute. I don’t want you yelling at us for it to happen,” 

“Are you saying I’m not a romantic or cute person? I am offended,” Yvie says and places a dramatic hand on her chest.

“Oh fuck off, Oddly,” Vanjie replies, “I’ll do it perfectly, don’t worry about it,” Vanjie says confidently yet Yvie still doesn’t have faith on that. In some way or another, she will definitely fuck it up, Yvie bets on it.

“It’s settled then!” Scarlet speaks up again, clasping her hands together joyfully, “I’ll reserve Ozdust right now before anyone else does. No backing out now, Vanj,” Scarlet says as she hops off her bed gracefully, smoothing out her skirt. Since it is expected for Ra’jah to always accompany Scarlet, she also hops off as she winks suggestively at Vanjie.

“Good luck, Vanj, I’ll be seeing you,” Ra’jah says as Scarlet grabs her hand before they exit. Scarlet waves a simple goodbye before heading off to the Ozdust Ballroom, leaving Shuga, Yvie, and Vanjie alone in the suite. Shuga takes this opportunity to lay on Scarlet’s bed; she looks like she’s been wanting to do that since they entered the room. Yvie chuckles at her, relating to her exhaustion.

“God, where am I gonna get a girlfriend like that. Or a boyfriend, I’m cool with any, if anyone wants to hook me up with someone,” Shuga states and Yvie relates to that as well. For close to two decades, Yvie has barely had any friends, let alone someone who’s romantically inclined to her. There were definitely plenty of women who sets Yvie’s gay heart off, but with the face she has, Yvie doubts she’d ever end up with anyone.

“Same,” Yvie says, “If any of you know someone who’s attracted to people with no pupils, let me know. So far, everyone’s just been screaming every time they see my face,” Yvie jokes and it brings a laugh out of Shuga and Vanjie. “You know, you’re really lucky, Vanj. Brooke’s been telling me how much she likes you since… uhm… it’s been a very long time, I mean.” 

Vanjie’s eyes widen, “Really?” she says, flustering a bit.

“Yep, I found out around eighth grade when Brooke accidentally said that you were hot in front of me. She immediately reddened and tried to shut me out after I started asking lots of questions,” Yvie says with a fond smile and Vanjie looked very intrigued after hearing that.

“Wow, that’s a very… long time.” Vanjie says.

Shuga coughs, “Lesbians,” she says and Vanjie grunts, “Okay Vanj but I doubt you’d do it perfectly tomorrow. Just let Yvie be there just in case. She’s like, your Plan B, or something,”

“Fine, but I promise you that I won’t fuck it up.” Vanjie says, “Everything’ll be fine.”

  
  


//

  
  


Brooke Lynn Hytes was a very lonely person. She was most likely the only one in the campus who had no roommate and even if she knew it wasn’t because people didn’t like her, she still felt terrible that she was alone. The closest she has to a roommate are the professors who stay overnight during busy days that stay in her building because it’s where all the vacant rooms were. Madame Visage stays here often because of the stress she receives as the headmistress. Rumors also say she’s the Wizard’s assistant but Brooke wouldn’t believe anything unless she hears it from the headmistress herself.

In the morning, she always wakes up early. Brooke never has a reason to sleep late in the evening. There were no friends for her to party with nor did she have difficulties in her studies— she wasn’t going to be Munchkinland’s next professor for no reason. Well, the reason is mostly that her father was biased but she never liked that reason. The other reason is that she was immensely intelligent, never getting any grade below A. 

It takes Brooke around an hour to get ready for the day. Her tangled legs are never a thing to be proud of. Her legs were almost like jelly as they were intertwined with each other like vines. She could move, but it’d never get anywhere because they’re literally like they were tied. It was hard at first to prepare by herself but after she tried to do everything independently, she eventually got used to it. There was a lot of chairs for everything to work but other than that, there was no other complication.

After she’d get prepared, she always loved to write to herself just to give herself a self-checkup everyday. Her dad would always ask her to do it and now, she can’t go a day without writing in her diary. Not everything was fun, though, as most of her entries were always about how her legs prevented her from doing this and that and how lonely she felt.

The loneliness wasn’t some kind of joke. She and Yvie shared that aspect with one another; it was just Yvie who really didn’t mind it. Even if Brooke was extremely introverted, she really longed for a consistent friend who she can get along with and depend on. Growing up, she and her sister would always be referred to as a freak show by many, hency why no one would try to approach her. For Brooke, people at least were kind when they interacted, but every interaction was nothing more than a question about academics. 

The three only other friends she had besides her sister were her obsessive father, her overly kind dance teacher, and this reckless, dumb bitch named Vanessa. Her father was just labelled as a friend because he just loved to spoil her non-stop and would converse to her like a normal person, unlike how he acts towards Yvie. Her dance teacher was the first to see her true potential in dancing and she couldn’t thank her enough for giving her some kind of passion when she thought she was nothing.

Then there’s Vanjie, someone who she thought would never be friends with her. She first knew Vanjie as Yvie’s only friend during kindergarten and Vanjie, the reckless child she is, always loved using Yvie to mess with the other kids, just because they thought it was something hilarious. Yvie, despite being older, started the same age as Brooke because at first, their father refused to treat Yvie like a normal person. If it weren’t for their nanny, Yvie wouldn’t be in the position she was today. Despite studying late, Yvie adapted well, and was actually really happy she had her sister in the same batch she was.

But back to Vanjie— Vanjie used to be someone she just knew because Yvie would always bring her along on the way home. Her father refused to talk to her because of obvious reasons so Brooke was always on the side, watching them. It was only when her father was sick that she got to know Vanjie. The three of them still walked home together but now, Brooke had less restrictions, hence why she began to chatter with the other two. She found out that they were more fun than what she expected, and instead of heading home, they messed around. Even if their father was much disappointed at them, that was the best memory Brooke had of her childhood.

Growing up, Vanjie barely had any shared classes with her, but Vanjie and Brooke always try their best to hangout whenever they were free. She didn’t know how their friendship has lasted that long but she was happy that she had Vanjie. And Brooke knew Yvie loved Vanjie as well even if she’d never admit it.

Now in Shiz, Brooke felt alone more than ever. A month in, she felt awfully homesick. She knew she should be grateful that she’s studying in the most privileged university in all of Oz but she admits she actually misses her father just a bit. Of course she loathed her hatefulness towards Yvie but she misses the compliments and the friendly small talks they shared. All she had now was her sister who sometimes loved to snap back at anyone and gain attention and Vanjie who only occasionally hangs out with her. 

That stupid Scarlet Envy loved to hog them away from her, though. The reason why she doesn’t see Vanjie daily is because she was in the same clique Scarlet was in. Brooke thought she actually didn’t fit in with Scarlet and her friends but Vanjie keeps convincing her that Scarlet acts better than what she showcases publicly. They apparently became close when Vanjie moved to the Gillikin County over the summer because of Vanjie’s mom getting a job at Shiz. Vanjie met Ra’jah as her roommate in advance and they kicked it off well, causing Vanjie to be invited into Scarlet’s group.

Scarlet also hogs Yvie away, believe it or not. Yvie and Scarlet love to appear like they loathe each other but Brooke can tell that they really enjoyed each other’s company despite the back and forth insults. Scarlet literally pulled Yvie with her out of class willingly— that’s definitely a sign of development in their friendship. 

And with Yvie and Vanjie pulled away from time to time, all she had was… was writing letters to her father and Madame Visage. Brooke should be used to the isolation but she wasn’t— it still hurt from time to time.

At least today, she had Yvie. Yesterday, Vanjie and Yvie literally were grabbed by Scarlet and she was alone on the way to her room in a building that no other student occupied. Brooke was using her time with Yvie wisely because who knows when she will inevitably be pulled away from her again.

Today, their university was hustling and bustling even more than before. Brooke was unbeknownst to why at first until she heard the gossip of what was going on when she wheeled herself to her first class. It was something that had to do with Scarlet, of course, and it has something to do with a dance party. This intrigued Brooke for mainly two reasons: firstly, she and many others were aware of Scarlet’s dancing skills or lack thereof, and secondly, Brooke loved to dance.

The party was in two days and will be held at Ozdust at 7PM. It was actually at a reasonable day and time and despite of her spite towards Scarlet, she was actually considering to drop by. Maybe she might tag along Yvie just because she didn’t want to be that loner in a party. Both she and Yvie loved to dance, the only difference is their style of dancing. Brooke was graceful and her dancing would invoke sereneness and calmness while Yvie’s dancing was more for clubs and raves, always so upbeat and high energy. Both barely showed their skills, though; atoo shy to present themselves in front of other people because of obvious reasons.

So maybe she won’t actually drop by, huh. 

“I just realized how many people would actually attend this because of Scarlet, ugh,” Brooke complains to Yvie during lunch as she lazily feeds herself a spoonful of veggies. “Just thinking about it makes me feel claustrophobic.” she adds. She also received a flyer on the way to lunch— apparently some of Scarlet’s followers began promoting the party on her own because of course her followers would love to scout for people they can convert to the Scarlet Envy religion.

“I heard about them talking about last night.” Yvie mentions, her elbow placed on the table as she leaned her cheek against her palm. She didn’t seem to enjoy her meal today, “Scarlet is the worst dancer I’ve seen. She flaps her arms and she calls it ‘professional dancing’, it’s ridiculous.” Yvie says as she feeds herself a piece of her meal. She chews slowly, looking like she wants to spit it out. 

“Girl, we know,” Brooke says, “We always know. She’s delusional, I won’t be surprised if she has dementia,” Brooke adds and Yvie hums. 

As they continue eating, Brooke kept observing Scarlet’s table. She really couldn’t help herself because her table was literally in front of theirs. There was a safe distance between both, at least, so her followers wouldn’t accidentally bump their table. As per usual, Scarlet’s crowd was as wild, obnoxious, and humongous as ever with Scarlet sitting elegantly on the table as if she were some queen. Scarlet’s friends all seem out of it, just like always, playing with their food as they looked like they want to behead all of Scarlet’s fans.

Eventually, her eyes began trailing off of Scarlet and to Vanjie, who was sitting in the same spot every time she was with Scarlet at lunch. She sat backwards on the chair as she poked at her food, unimpressed by the rowdiness of the crowd. It was weird to see Vanjie so quiet especially when she was known for never shutting up in highschool. Turns out detention isn’t what she needs, it was fanbases who couldn’t go one second without complimenting the same things to someone who they consider as their god.

Every time Vanjie was out of it, Brooke would always hope she would look her way so they can at least exchange glances. If she wasn’t going to hangout with Brooke, a glance and a bright smile is all she needed to be satisfied. It always happened every lunch time when Vanjie was away so it wasn’t a surprise when Vanjie finally locked eyes with her. Vanjie smiles here naturally beautiful yet adorable grin as she waves a tiny hello at Brooke. Brooke also waves, like the usual thing she does in reply. 

Weirdly, Vanjie actually stands up. Vanjie would never excuse herself from Scarlet’s group because she actually fears the wrath of Scarlet’s fandom when they become judgmental towards her. So, with her looking like she wants to step out, Brooke became slightly proud but still a bit worried. She gives Vanjie a concerned stare as a sign for her to sit back down again but Vanjie seems persistent in wanting to get to Brooke’s table.

But alas, the fans spotted it before she could escape. “Hey, Vanjie, you’re seeing those freaks again? What’s going on with you?” One yells and Vanjie quickly gets startles as she was pushed back down on her chair. It wasn’t forceful but still, it makes both Yvie and Brooke enraged. Yvie almost grabs her spoon to toss again but Brooke stops her before anything gets more violent.

“You’re lucky to be staying with Scarlet so why don’t you appreciate it? Aren’t you grateful that you’re with her and not… with them?” A girl states as she snorts while gesturing towards Yvie and Brooke. Again, Brooke and Yvie tense up as they give them icy stares. Yvie starts tapping at the table out of habit as she restrains herself from using her powers.

“Yea! Be more appreciative, Vanjie! Aren’t I right, Scarlet?” a guy says as Scarlet slowly becomes panicky. Yvie glares at Scarlet, giving her a sign to not fuck up her answer with a fake reply that might damage her friends’ reputations.

“Alright, settle down, Vanjie probably didn’t mean that,” Scarlet says, not wanting to work for both the side of her fanbase and the side of her friends, “I don’t want anyone to be negative especially when I want everyone to have consistent positive energy until the party comes, you got that?” Scarlet says. Brooke sighs a breath of relief as the crowd began agreeing, leaving both the sisters and Vanjie alone. 

“The fuck is wrong with Scarlet’s fans— how—how does she deal with this?” Brooke says, still eyeing the crowd with irritation. “They’re unbelievably dense.”

“Yea, sometimes I feel like Scarlet’s being more manipulated by them than the crowd being manipulated by her. It’s just a new thing I noticed,”

Brooke cocks an eyebrow at Yvie, surprised by how wary and cautious she was of Scarlet out of the blue, “Okay, when did you start caring for Scarlet?”

Yvie was silent as she looks down at her meal. Brooke was definitely suspicious of Yvie now, especially when she just insulted Scarlet a few minutes ago. “Hey, it was just an observation, don’t think of it as anything more than that.” Yvie mumbles as she shoves a few veggies into her mouth in disgust. Brooke gives her a light smile as she somewhat realizes what Yvie is slowly getting herself into. Then again, Yvie’s caring instincts aside, she takes a moment to process what Yvie mentions about Scarlet.

Once Brooke pondered about it thoroughly, she somewhat understood Yvie’s point. Scarlet was much different to her friends in person and sometimes, her dislike towards certain people seemed unnecessary. Brooke doesn’t want to assume but since Scarlet was sculpting another personality in front of her fanbase, Brooke thinks it’s slowly getting mixed into her true personality, and it’s quite worrisome to think that Scarlet was losing her true self because of it.

Then again, it wasn’t Brooke’s problem much since again, she still felt bitter towards Scarlet for stealing away her only friends in life. So, it’d be fine not to meddle with Scarlet’s issues much.

After some time suffering eating greens, the bell finally sounded across the campus. Yvie was glad she could just deny her lunch and grabbed her bag immediately to head off with Brooke to class. But before they could both leave, Vanjie actually makes her way to the duo. She seemed less startled than before but still alert for any fans that’ll spy on Vanjie to spread more gossip.

Thankfully, Yvie was there to keep guard of any disrespectful fans. She can easily scare them off with her dark aura and sharp teeth. If that fails, Yvie isn’t afraid to throw a pen at them while insulting them. Brooke was at least comfortable with Yvie doing that to them since Vanjie was being hurt by these fans.

“Sorry about a while ago, I shouldn’t have tried to escape the pits of hell like that,” Vanjie says as she ties her hair into a messy bun. Brooke licks her lips as stares at Vanjie longingly, thinking that the messy bun look on her was undeniably attractive. 

“It’s alright, those fans are fucking nuts,” Yvie says, “I’m like, this close to murdering all of them,” Yvie adds as she raises her left hand and puts her thumb and index finger close together but not too close to look like they were touching. Vanjie sighs in agreement, looking incredibly annoyed.

“Same, but actually, I’d fucking murder them already if I can get away with it.” Vanjie says exasperatedly and the sisters hum in agreement. “But they do make Scarlet happy… or I think they do, I dunno.”

“Debatable but okay,” Yvie says, followed by a minute of odd silence. As they walk towards their classes, Brooke notices how Yvie and Vanjie walked in a slower pace as they seemed to know something Brooke didn’t know. They kept exchanging glances as if they were trying to send secret messages to one another. Brooke eyes them warily as she wheels more slowly, hoping she can get on whatever they’ve been hiding.

“Uh, Brooke, I have something to say,” Vanjie says slowly yet awkwardly as Brooke turns to her with raised eyebrows. It was out of character for Vanjie to start any conversation like that and it causes Brooke’s heart to race and palms to sweat. She also can’t tell if it was anything good or bad but judging by Vanjie’s nervous expression, Brooke expects the worst to come. This was it, Vanjie was going to end their nearly twenty-year friendship, Brooke can feel it.

“Yes?” Brooke manages to say this with no stuttering but inside, panic and anxiety began spreading throughout her body. Vanjie seems just as nervous as she is as she constantly looks away as she nibbles her bottom lip. Yvie, on the other hand, looked unimpressed as she glared at Vanjie threateningly.

“I—uhm,” Vanjie continues but the words seem trapped in her throat, not wanting to escape her lips. It irritates Brooke a bit but she was patient, not wanting to rush Vanjie to confess whatever she has in her head. “I—I’m gonna head to class,” Vanjie manages to say and Brooke’s eyebrows furrow, confused to why Vanjie suddenly avoided what she wanted to discuss. 

“Huh, what—“ Yvie suddenly jumps in, probably as bewildered as Brooke was. “Vanjie, what in the fuck—“ she says but couldn’t finish as she began being pulled away by Vanjie, both of the two abruptly leaving Brooke behind as they head to their own class. Brooke stops in her tracks as she grips her wheelchair’s wheels tightly, slightly saddened by Vanjie bailing on her.

“Whatever,” Brooke says bitterly as she headed for her class. It was mathematics so this can undoubtedly distract her from whatever just happened right now. She can just demand answers from Yvie later— everything was going to be fine.

//

“Brooke! Brooke, hey, uhm, I wanna walk with ya to your room,” Immediately after Brooke wheels out of her class, Vanjie was already waiting outside. Yvie was behind her, looking very disgruntled at Vanjie. Brooke exchanges looks with Yvie before she stares at Vanjie weirdly. She chews the inside of her lip as she tries to process what was going on with Vanjie today.

“Alright, but it’ll be a long walk,” Brooke says as she turns her wheelchair away from them and to the direction of her building. Vanjie looks delighted as she walks beside Brooke, looking equally as nervous as she was joyous. Yvie was trailing behind them and even if Brooke wasn’t looking at her, she knew that Yvie was staring at them carefully like a concerned parent.

“What did you want to say a while ago?” Brooke asks, hoping Vanjie would finally be truthful to her. Vanjie still looks hesitant as she shrugged, most likely trying to keep her composure steady,

“Uhm,” Vanjie says. One giveaway that Vanjie was still masking something was the constant stuttering. She also never stops midway through her sentences because Vanjie likes to ramble most of the time, never stopping when she talks. “You heard of Scarlet’s party? You going to it?” she asks, avoiding Brooke’s gaze.

Brooke goes with it, “No, I don’t think I am. I know you’re going, though, since I don’t think you can decline her invite to the party,” Brooke says and Vanjie shrugs, looking neutral, “At least you’re a great dancer, you’d definitely blend in well there, unlike me,” Brooke says with an awkward chuckle as she gestures to her legs. 

“Hey, you can dance! Anyone can dance.” Vanjie says and Brooke smiles at her, flattered by her statement. “If this bitch behind ya can dance then you can too,” Vanjie says as she points her thumb at Yvie who was deadpanning until her name was mentioned.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Yvie says as Vanjie chuckles at her.

“I was just saying how lovely your dancing is,” Vanjie says.

“Actually, Yvie can go with you to the party so you wouldn’t be too lonely there,” Brooke suggests, “You two have the same kind of dancing style so I think you two would have a great time.”

“Y’know, I was actually gonna, uhm,” Vanjie stutters again and Brooke’s patience is thinning. She waits for a few seconds for Vanjie to continue but she still seems disoriented.  _ What does she want to say? _

“Vanj, we’re friends, right? You can tell me anything,” Brooke says in the nicest way possible, hoping it’ll calm Vanjie down enough for her to spill. Vanjie’s lip quivers as she fiddles with her fingers, looking like she’s at a loss on how she wants to confess whatever she has in mind.

“Look, Scarlet planned the party for you and Vanjie’s just trying to ask you out, Brooke,” Unexpectedly, Yvie started to speak behind them, looking just as impatient as Brooke was but more blunt. Yvie immediately receives a sharp glare from Vanjie. Vanjie looked like she wanted to scold Yvie but Yvie remains calm as ever, appearing to be very unbothered by the stares.

Brooke, on the other hand, was shocked to the core. Her eyes widened in a delighted surprise as she stopped wheeling herself to gaze at Vanjie. Before Vanjie decided to beat Yvie up, Vanjie caught Brooke’s curious gaze and flushed, reserving her anger towards Yvie for later.

“Is that what you were trying to tell me?” Brooke asks, her anxiety and irritation replaced with genuine curiosity and slight joy. Vanjie gulps and nods slowly as Yvie seemed relieved that Vanjie was started to act truthfully. Brooke’s lips slowly curve upwards as she takes one of Vanjie’s hands to ease her queasiness. “Hey, look at me,” Brooke says as she notice Vanjie still malfunctioning, “I’d love to go out with you.”

Vanjie’s eyes widen as she quickly perks up, a wide grin like Brooke’s forming on her face as well. “Really? For real real?” Vanjie says as her hands begin shaking. Brooke lets out a small chuckle as she gave a nod.

“Of course, you dumbass!” Brooke exclaims as Vanjie lets out a breath of relief, “I thought you were gonna break up our friendship but this—this is  _ much _ better. Oz, you should’ve said this earlier! I was panicking the entire time during maths because I thought you hated me.” 

“What? I don’t hate you, it’d be weird if I suddenly told you that I hated you after, I don’t fucking know, sixteen years of our friendship.” Vanjie laughs, clearly overly excited and relieved that they finally have it all settled, “So you will go to the dance with me?”

“Of course I fucking will now that you asked!” 

“And you’d, uh, I dunno— are we— do you wanna be—”

“Yes, a hundred percent, I’d love to,” Brooke says sincerely. “Never in my wildest dreams did I thought this would actually happen, my Oz— this is probably the best day I’ve had in my life,” Brooke rambles as her heart beats quickly, causing her to act all hyper. 

“You’re welcome, lesbians,” Yvie speaks and the two of them jump, forgetting that Yvie was still watching from behind, “You also have to thank Scarlet, by the way,” Yvie says but Brooke has no clue on what she meant behind it.

“I guess her plan actually worked,” Vanjie murmurs then notices the confused expression brooke had, “Oh! I forgot to mention that uhm, she was the one who implemented the party just so I can have the perfect ‘first date’. I didn’t actually believe her when she said her plan was foolproof but at the end, it surprisingly worked,” Vanjie states and it really gives Brooke another perspective on Scarlet. 

Maybe Scarlet was deep down really kind-hearted despite her occasional impoliteness. “Huh, wow,” Brooke says, still taking in her realization. “She is actually not as bad as she seems… I, wow— I’m actually a bit speechless by that. I guess I have to thank her for all of this…”

“I’ll make sure to tell her for you,” Yvie says, “Anyways, I’ll be heading off, you lesbians— I heard no other person lives in Brooke’s building so you can just as loud as you want,” Yvie says with a knowing smirk before she turns away nonchalantly. Vanjie snorts at her while Brooke merely flushed just thinking about it.

“Hey you’re thinking about it! I can’t believe you're thinking about it!” Vanjie calls Brooke out and Brooke slaps her elbow to retort.

Brooke gives her a suggestive wink before she wheels off with Vanjie, flustered and confused, chasing after her. 

Yvie sighs at them. She wasn’t gloomy for them in any way but there was light feelings of jealousy she felt within her. Adjusting her bag, she continues walking to her shared suite, wanting to relax herself for the day. The thought of the dance and her sister’s happiness keeps flooding her head and Yvie just wants to shut it all out. The better she accepts that no one will love her, the more this jealousy will pass.

Then again, her mind seems to be fixated at Scarlet as well. Scarlet organized this to happen and was that one push Vanjie needed to finally confess. Not only that but this— this made her sister happy. Scarlet  _ made _ her sister happy. This was always a big deal for Yvie. Anyone who makes her sister happy is someone Yvie needs to respect wholeheartedly because there are rarely anyone who does so. 

Yvie suddenly feels compelled to return Scarlet a favor. Maybe she should… gift her with something.

“Oh, Miss Yvie, where are you headed? You seem to be the only one here,” Out of nowhere, Madame Visage speaks. She seems to have finished her last class and was off to return to her office. Yvie purses her lips as she gets an idea on what she would love to give to Scarlet.

“Madame Visage, I actually have a request…”

  
  


//

  
  


“Oh, hey Yves,” Shuga says as Yvie enters the suite. Even if the party was still in two days, Scarlet was already preparing for her outfit to wear. The room was messier than usual as Scarlet has littered it with different kinds of catsuits and dresses that had to be unbelievably gorgeous yet expensive. Shuga was visiting as well, most likely helping Scarlet out since she knew how indecisive she was.

“Heyo, I love how you’re taking out the trash today,” Yvie remarks as she hops over the messily scattered heels on the floor to get to her bed. Scarlet gives Yvie an aggravated glare as she placed one of her dresses on a hanger.

“Actually, I wasn’t sure I was taking out the trash until you walked in,” Scarlet retorts and Yvie, genuinely astounded, chuckles at her. Their back and forth remarks will never be boring for Yvie. “How’s Vanjie and Brooke?”

“A success,” Yvie replies, and both Scarlet and Shuga rejoice in unison, both immensely relieved that everything went well. “But we had to go for Plan B since Vanjie pussied out too much.”

“That was expected, though,” Shuga jokes as she begins folding some of Scarlet’s outfits as if she were her nanny. “So they’re both going to the party?”

“Uhuh, so everything’s gonna be great,”

“Are you going to the party?” Shuga asks, and Yvie shrugs as she places her bag down next to her bed. There was no real reason for Yvie to attend since she didn’t have anyone to accompany her. Every one of Scarlet’s friends would undoubtedly stick with her while Brooke and Vanjie have their own little thing. Yvie would… be alone. Like always.

“I feel like you should go— everyone else is,” Scarlet says and it was a surprise that she insisted Yvie to go. Yvie purses her lips as she actually starts to consider the invitation. Why does she seem compelled to go when Scarlet is the one who requests for her presence? When did she ever begin listening Scarlet Envy?

“Also—“ Scarlet speaks and Shuga apprehensively stares at Scarlet. “Would you want to have this hat I found? It was hiding in the back of my closet and I don’t think it’d suit me if I’d wear it.” Scarlet begins digging into this gigantic box that was sitting next to her closet. The box was filled with funky-looking hats, all different in designs. In the bottom of the box, Scarlet finds what she needs: a pointy, black hat. It was unquestionably oldschool, something Yvie would find her grandmother to wear. 

“Here, this is all yours,” Scarlet says, “I think you should wear it to the party,” she adds with most likely a very fake smile but it makes Yvie’s emotions flutter inside her. She knew Scarlet was joking but to Yvie, the hat wasn’t as terrible as she thought it’d be. Firstly, it was in a dark color, so of course it would please Yvie. Yvie wears enough weird outfits to accept this odd hat as something she’d wear. Truly, Yvie appreciates the gift, no matter how much Scarlet meant for it to be a harmless joke.

“Thanks, Scar,” Yvie says and both Scarlet and Shuga were surprised by her sincere thankfulness for the hat and how she used a nickname for Scarlet. Scarlet blinks a couple of times while she furrowed her eyebrows, perplexed by how Yvie was reacting to the hat.

“I—are you actually gonna wear that horrendous hat?” Scarlet says, “You will literally look like a garden gnome, Yvie, I recommend you don’t do it.”

“Oh wow, Miss Scarlet Envy actually cares about me? How sweet,” Yvie says in reply and Scarlet huffs out a breath, “No, really, I actually like it. Fits with my aesthetic,” Yvie says as she places it on top of her head. It wasn’t sitting directly on top but actually, she decides to put it on the left side of her head and keep it slanted. Looking at the mirror near their window, she adjusts it to look the way Yvie wanted it to look.

“Oh? Okay then, weirdo.” Scarlet says, “People are going to judge you for the hat, though, so try your best not to wear it since you already get bullied enough.” Scarlet warns her. Yvie thinks it’s cute whenever she witnesses Scarlet be all careful and motherly towards Yvie. It was rare but it makes Yvie feel great, for some reason.

“It’s been a month, I’m used to it.”

“Are you actually going to the party, honey?” Shuga asks and Yvie pauses. This week has been a pleasant week for Yvie regarding academics. Her professors were kind enough to give most of the students a break this week, their homework being given to a minimum. So, there was no academics getting in the way of the party. And albeit all the expected, judgmental looks Yvie will receive during the party, Yvie does want to go party at least once in her college life. Yvie was a wild bitch, and maybe, she can try having fun for once in this dance party of Scarlet’s.

Yvie, with a confident smirk, replies, “Hell yea.”

//

  
  


It was 6:40 and Yvie still remained stood in front of her mirror, checking how she looks for the hundredth time. She doesn’t even know why she was still fixing how she looks when she clearly didn’t want to dress to impress. She dresses to depress. Her hair looked just how it did like always, its buns still staying the same way it was styled this morning. Her dress was somewhat similar to the dresses she wore daily, only this time, it was slightly more revealing and lacy. She kept her word and wore the freaky hat Scarlet gave to her because believe it or not, her adoration for the hat still hasn’t faded. It fit well with her outfit anyways so there was no big issue there.

Tonight, she was supposed to have fun, but here she is, checking to see if she was passable enough for the party. Something bothered her and she didn’t know why. For the past days, she didn’t know why any interaction with Scarlet tickles her insides. She feels like mush whenever they exchange jokes and she flusters harshly whenever Scarlet would genuinely compliment or converse with her. And now, she wishes that she looked just as appealing as Scarlet was. She doesn’t know why she suddenly craves for Scarlet’s praise and appreciation but she does. And now, her bothering thoughts wouldn’t stop pestering and now she’s conflicted on her appearance.

She looks at her pocket watch again-- 6:44. The party most likely has started already since many arrived early. Scarlet already left with her clique and Vanjie and Brooke left as well just so they can spend more time with each other. Yvie said she would follow fifteen minutes ago and now, she’s still in the same place she was pacing around earlier.

Yvie sighed as she grabbed her bag-- she truly was a pathetic piece of shit, huh.

Yvie decides to leave after enough convincing from herself. Even if her horrible was horrible, Scarlet would be very much displeased if she came in late, and Yvie definitely didn’t want to ruin her excited mood.

  
  


//

  
  


Because of their early arrival, both Brooke and Vanjie got a spot of their own near the corners of the room to stay away from any other person as much as possible. Brooke looked absolutely stunning, preparing effortfully for tonight. She wore an emerald green, flowy dress that hugged her body really well. Thanks to Vanjie, she had less struggles putting the dress on and styling her hair for tonight. Vanjie, on the other hand, wore something complimentary-- a red dress that had only one sleeve while the exposed arm and shoulder was slathered with gold glitters. And because Brooke loved it, she made Vanjie tie her hair into a messy bun again.

And so far, her night has been amazing. Only thirty minutes has passed since their arrival and they’ve been grooving to the music like there was no tomorrow. Brooke has twirled so much in her wheelchair that she started becoming slightly light headed. If they weren’t spinning around, they would use their arms to do simple dance moves. Even if the amount of dance moves Brooke can execute is limited, she was having a blast with Vanjie. 

“How was Scarlet able to find this much bands in like, two days? There’s a whole fucking set of them just waiting to perform.” Brooke says, or most accurately, shouts, since the music was blasting across the ballroom. Vanjie shrugs as she bounces to the loud music, enjoying how incredibly vigorous the band was. 

“I don’t know but I fucking love it. These bitches are talented as fuck, it’s insane,” Vanjie says as she cheers on the singers on the stage. Brooke also chimed in, cheering for them happily just like everyone else is. The singers seem to respond greatly to it, quickly amping up their song to its maximum. Both Brooke and Vanjie rock to the music, their energy never wavering, prompting them to continuously pump out dance moves at every second.

“I’m having the time of my fucking life!” Brooke shouts at Vanjie, “God, I’d love to do this monthly if Scarlet is willing to do so.”

“She’s rich as fuck, she can do whatever she wants, if I’m being honest,” Vanjie replies, “I’ll tell her that, I’m sure she’ll keep the recommendation in mind,” Vanjie says with a wink and Brooke laughs at her. 

Then, Brooke proceeds to take Vanjie’s hands to twirl her around on the beat of the music. Vanjie was disoriented when she spun but it Brooke was thoroughly entertained by her. Vanjie then returns the favor and twirls Brooke around. She spins with ease since she’s done this multiple times before with her wheelchair. They both share another laugh until their laughter dies out.

“Oz, you are so beautiful,” Vanjie says out of the blue and Brooke blushes. At least under the colored lighting, it wasn’t clearly visible. “I’ve been waiting for this since-- since fucking seventh grade.”

“I was waiting since sixth grade, how about that?” Brooke says, “We were just so oblivious to each other back then, it makes me cringe just thinking about it.”

“Can I kiss you?”

Brooke almost jumped out of her wheelchair, “Wh--wait what?” 

“Ugh, Brooke, can I fucking kiss you?” Vanjie asks, clearly flustered. 

Brooke’s heart beats quickly that she feels like it could jump out the next time she exhales. She fiddles with her wheelchair’s handles for a moment before nodding excessively. Vanjie then kneels as if she were to propose to Brooke and leans forward. They stare at each other longingly before Vanjie leans in and places her soft lips on Brooke’s. The kiss wasn’t too deep nor long-- it was just a simple, sweet peck. Despite it being a short kiss, it made Brooke’s heart race as if she ran a mile. 

Once Vanjie let go, there was a permanent smile planted on Brooke’s face. Vanjie had the same expression as well as she giddily bounced out of excitement. “That… I love that. I feel like we should do that more often,” Brooke says, sounding like a foolish idiot. 

“I think we should.” Vanjie says, “D’ya wanna--?”

“Yes, go ahead,” Brooke replies and Vanjie kneels down again to give her another affectionate kiss.

Meanwhile, at the other side of the ballroom, Ra’jah was tutoring Scarlet on how to dance. Thankfully, there was less of a crowd since everyone wanted to have their own fun with dancing, and Scarlet felt more free because of it. Then again, there were still many eyes on her, and it was very much pressuring especially when she realized that she can’t dance if her life depended on it. It was quite frankly embarrassing that she needed Ra’jah’s guidance since a lot of people were watching but Ra’jah always makes sure that Scarlet would be enjoying the party.

“Like this?” Scarlet asks as she flails her arms around while moving her hips to the rhythm. Ra’jah snorts at her for the millionth time tonight and Scarlet grumpily huffs at her. “You always keep laughing at me! Oz, I really must not be able to dance,”

“You know, it’s bad when Brooke, someone on a wheelchair, and Madame Visage, an old bitch, are both better at dancing than you are.” Ra’jah remarks and Scarlet slaps her forearm jokingly. Then, Scarlet pauses as she realizes that Madame Visage was present. How did she not notice her entering the ballroom? And what in the world was she doing here?

“Madame Visage?” Scarlet asks and Ra’jah gestures to the headmistress who was grooving near the center of the ballroom as if she were twenty years younger. Many have been cheering her on and honestly, it was a nice thing to see from the headmistress. Even if she were scarily serious at times, it was nice to know she also had this fun aspect in her.

Scarlet decides to cheer on for her as well. The headmistress then turns towards her direction and Scarlet decides to cheer even louder. Madame Visage smiles as if she was pleased and shimmies towards Scarlet’s direction.

“Scarlet, this party’s great! How did you even manage all of this in two days?” the headmistress says and Scarlet immediately feels flattered.

“I have my ways,” Scarlet replies with a prideful expression.

“It’s like magic, honestly,” Madame Visage says, “And speaking of magic, I have something for you,” Madame Visage opens up her purse and brings out this elongated box from it. The box was simply red but it seemed to hold more importance to it. The headmistress hands the box for Scarlet to open and like a child opening presents, Scarlet lifts the lid.

Inside, there was a wand. Not some kind of pretentious toy wand you’d find in most toy shops; this was a  _ real  _ wand. Its design was simple: it merely looked like a brown stick. On the bottom, there was a ruby attached to it that was carved like a rose.

“I— wait wait wait, what’s going on?” Scarlet says as her hands begin to shake. 

“I’ll be meeting you on Monday, next week.” Madame Visage says with a wink. Scarlet thinks about her statement for a second and when she finally understood, Scarlet gasps loudly and squeals. She couldn’t believe it— she was invited to attend Madame Visage’s sorcery class. She thought it would be impossible to get into her class after how much they butt heads but now, she actually got in. How did she even make it in?

“I don’t— I don’t recall myself auditioning or applying for the class besides my attempt on the first day so… why?”

“Just thank Miss Oddly for that,” Madame Visage says before walking away and dancing again. Scarlet, still in disbelief, looks down at the wand in awe again. Yvie… Yvie, despite their constant bickering, requested for Scarlet to join her class. Yvie, despite Scarlet’s numerous fans verbally bullying her, personally asked Madame Visage to give Scarlet such an expensive wand. Yvie, despite receiving such a terrible hat from Scarlet, personally asked Madame Visage for Scarlet to receive lessons that would make her a master at sorcery.

Scarlet was close to sobbing uncontrollably because of it. She did nothing to deserve Yvie Oddly yet Yvie’s out here giving Scarlet the best gift she could possibly receive.

Right when Scarlet was about to tell Ra’jah war just occured, the noise and the music of the room suddenly dies down. The silence was incredibly thick and everyone seemed to stare at something, or rather, someone, who entered the ballroom. As Scarlet looks up, there she sees Yvie Oddly making a grand entrance into the ballroom. As always, she seemed confident and her courage was never wavering.

But Yvie, truly, was a bit frightened as she entered the room. She didn’t expect everyone to notice her when she entered and the pregnant silence just made her more nervous. Yvie knew she would get attention but she didn’t think the whole room would grow silent just to judgmentally gaze at her.

Yvie tries her best not to run away from the party, though. She walks down the steps that led to the main dancefloor as everyone watched. She can tell a few people were already whispering gossip about her and she tries her best to ignore it while she made her way to the center. Once she got there, she began dancing on her own, twirling and moving her arms gracefully to… to an imaginary rhythm.

But after two sets of her horrible dancing, someone walks up to her from the crowd. It was Scarlet Envy, there in the flesh, with her red catsuit covered in fake roses. They stare at each other first before Scarlet began to follow Yvie’s moves, dancing it as horribly as Yvie was dancing them. Yvie started to smile as Scarlet began having fun with the moves, twirling closer and closer to Yvie as she does so.

“What’re you guys doing?” Madame Visage yells, “start the music already!” she exclaims as everyone suddenly cheers, opposite to what their attitude was a minute ago. Scarlet giggles joyfully as she still continued dancing with Yvie, even grabbing Yvie’s hand to twirl around with her. Yvie also begins to smile as well, her fear being replaced with an immense glee as they dance around like no one is watching.

Yvie doesn’t know exactly why Scarlet decided to save her ass now or why she suddenly became all carefree. But… it felt nice. Yvie felt like she was in absolute bliss. Without them being at each other’s throats, they both suddenly feel like they were in paradise, in heaven.

But in the midst of their dancing, Yvie does realize something. Whenever she was with Scarlet, her pessimism seems to ease up as her happiness seems to increase tenfold. There was a weird feeling in her stomach every time she looks at Scarlet. Whether she’d merely exchange a few words with her or she’d simply make eye contact with her, Yvie felt her mouth go dry as she sometimes stood speechless merely just observing the redheads.

Yvie realized that she was developing a crush towards Scarlet Envy.


	4. don't wish, don't start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter: Brooke and Vanjie finally get together while Yvie realizes something important.
> 
> This chapter: Scarlet and Yvie share secrets, they finally become closer friends, and something goes down during Miss West's class.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! sorry for the week-late update. last week was hectic and i've been sorta struggling on how to write these new chapters. but enjoy this part! it's 8k words but it isn't my favorite. i actually was supposed to add much more to this chapter but it'd be tooooo long. 
> 
> special thanks to althea for betaing and the scyvie discord for supporting me!
> 
> (kudos and comments are appreciated! follow me on tumblr @and-oddly-enough)
> 
> **tw: low self esteem**

By the end of the party, despite their immense exhaustion from dancing endlessly, Yvie and Scarlet walked back to their dorm arm in arm with a jovial expression on their faces. If any student would witness this, they would think they were hallucinating since Yvie and Scarlet would never be seen enjoying each other’s company. But here they were, defying what everyone thinks as their friendship improves tenfold.

In front of Yvie, there Scarlet was: laughing and chatting with her comfortably. Yvie was so used to the cold and the hotheaded Scarlet that refused to touch her; it was quite overwhelming that Scarlet’s demeanor changed all of a sudden. Yvie knew that their acquaintanceship was eventually going to develop into something more—but she didn’t expect for it to happen so quickly. Despite how unfamiliar Yvie was with this certain kind of Scarlet, she thinks that… maybe she preferred this type of Scarlet.

This was the Scarlet Ra’jah, Shuga, and Vanjie talked about. To Yvie, she thought their stories were merely fictional since Yvie never saw anything from Scarlet that would suggest their stories were true. She would always be some snobby, childish person who would find unique ways to insult Yvie at every chance she had. But her friends would always defend her, even if they agreed Scarlet was delusional to some degree. They say she is very friendly and open, always outgoing and able to make a conversation flow smoothly. They say she is charming and empathetic, always understanding how her friends’ feel so she can help give them the best advice possible. 

And now, she can somewhat see it.

“It’s— it’s a wand, Yvie, it’s not just, like, ‘no big deal’. It’s a fucking wand!” Scarlet says enthusiastically but Yvie shrugs. “How did Madame Visage even get a hand of it in such short notice? Does someone like, ship them out or does she—“

“She makes wands,” Yvie states, “I asked her to make one for you. The gem was an extra touch that turned out to look great,” Yvie said and Scarlet pouts at her. She still seems overly guilty that she received such an extravagant present from Yvie despite Yvie telling her that all was well.

“I have to make it up to you somehow— would you want, uhm, a free ticket to a musical? Or— or maybe we can go on a vacation trip together with the rest of the group—“

“Scar, it’s really fine! Don’t overthink it.”

“Yea but I can’t help it,” Scarlet says in a more serious tone, “I was—“ Scarlet gulps nervously, “I was rude to you. Actually, no, not just rude, I was deadbeat cruel. Like I— uhm,” Scarlet genuinely looked troubled as she tried to come up with what she wants to say. Yvie understands what message she was trying to conceive though. It was nice to finally have the opportunity for the both of them to come clean to one another, since they’ve been avoiding this for so long. 

“I think we should talk about this inside,” Yvie says as she jingles the key to their suite in between her fingers. Scarlet smiles as she lets Yvie run ahead to open the door to their place before Scarlet gets there. It was only a few steps away so it didn’t present much of a hassle. Yvie unlocks their suite easily and waits for Scarlet to arrive before they both proceed inside.

Immediately, Scarlet flops unto her bed. After the dance, Scarlet seemed to let herself be more loose than she was before. Again, Yvie admired this different side to Scarlet and wished to see it more, especially in public.

“I’m beat. But then again, the dance was so fun, so I guess I’m more satisfied about today than beat.” Scarlet says as she unsleeved the top of her catsuit, uncovering beads of sweat under the fabric. Yvie whistled as she realized how hot Scarlet’s outfit was, both in an attractive and heated sense. “Fuck this, you don’t mind if I take the top off for a while, right? I mean, you’ve seen me like this before,” Scarlet says as she slightly shimmies herself out of the top half of the catsuit, leaving her bra exposed to Yvie. Yvie, still not used to how fucking attracted she was to Scarlet, flusters intensely but manages to hide and mask it since Scarlet was too fixated on staring at their ceiling.

“I’m cool with it, don’t worry.” Yvie says as she takes her hat off and places it on one of the shelves she had above her bed. “But yea, the dance was fun. Except for the part where everyone stared at me but—it was fun.” Yvie says as she sits down on her bed while facing the exhausted redhead.

“Oh Oz, I don’t know why people stared at you like that. I mean, you just… walked in?” Scarlet says as she pushes herself up, “It was my fault, isn’t it? I— Yvie, can I confess something?” Scarlet asks and Yvie nods slowly, curious to what she has to say. 

In the process of discovering Scarlet’s new side, Yvie did notice one other thing. Genuinely, Scarlet seemed regretful for what she has done to Yvie for the past month. She appeared more vulnerable to Yvie which was something admirable coming from a person who Yvie thought was childish enough to never change her opinions on certain people.

“Let’s have a talk, okay? I want to have a talk— we need to settle things straight,” Scarlet says as she heaves herself up from the bed, sitting cross-legged on the sheets. Yvie hums as a reply as she adjusts her sitting position as well. “Y’know… I— who am I kidding— I’m sorry. For— for everything that I’ve done for the past month.” Scarlet says but her eyes were distracted, avoiding Yvie’s gaze. “I know I acted… really, really badly to you for a month and I know you probably won’t forgive me—“

“Of course I wou—“

“And—hold on, sorry, I’ll let everything out of my chest first—I promise to make up to you. Whatever you need. I just can’t believe that… that despite my terrible attitude, you still handled me well.”

Yvie purses her lips as she watch Scarlet at her most vulnerable, still unable to look at Yvie directly. Scarlet’s eyebrows were constantly furrowing as she kept looking at different things, the corners of her lips tilted downwards. Yvie reaches out and places her palm directly on top of Scarlet’s knee and in response, Scarlet looks up at Yvie with an expression mixed with sorrow and surprise. Yvie’s heart beats quickly as she and Scarlet exchange a long gaze— why did Scarlet have to be so damn admirable?

“H-hey, it’s fine.” Yvie says, managing to keep her composure, “To be fair, I insulted you a lot as well.”

“Yea but I told my— my followers about you. I don’t think I can ever take that back without— without—“ Scarlet stops herself abruptly as she began fiddling with her bedsheets. “Nevermind I—“

“You can, uhm, say it. To me.” Yvie says in a means to sound comforting but Scarlet still remains reluctant, “Of course, if you don’t want, that’s fine—“

“I’m scared of what my followers would think of me if I tell them about you!” she exclaims, hands clenching her bedsheets as she does so. Scarlet still maintained her averted gaze as she winced, looking like she regrets what she just confessed. “Oh shit, wait, no, I didn’t mean to—“

“I think I get you,” Yvie interrupts her, making sure that Scarlet knew that she could trust Yvie wholeheartedly. Even if Scarlet was great when the subject at hand were the issues of other people, Scarlet wasn’t exactly eloquent when expressing her own struggles. But Yvie understands it, at least, since she has seen this issue occur in front of her own eyes. 

It was somewhere around two weeks ago when she saw discomfort in Scarlet’s eyes; as the attention she was getting seemed to get to her. There was constant flinching and reluctance that day that Yvie couldn’t help but feel a little bit of pity towards Scarlet, even if they didn’t get along by that time. From that day on, Yvie notices that indeed, Scarlet has built a façade that shielded her queerness from others in the hopes that she may receive more validation. There were some times where Scarlet slips up and accidentally says something that possibly displeased others. Yvie would notice a pulsating panic that Scarlet would try to contain. 

When Yvie started to grow closed to Scarlet’s small group of friends, this is when she really figured out what the issue was. Shuga spilled all of it to her and Yvie didn’t know she had a sympathetic heart up until that point. That’s when her bickering with Scarlet lessened— just because Yvie started to respect Scarlet as an individual rather than keep grinding her gears. Scarlet noticed the change and began growing with it, even if sometimes, a bit of rudeness could come out of her. 

And Yvie understands her entirely— oddballs always understand other oddballs. Scarlet would never admit she was a weirdo, but Yvie could sense it from her. With this, it was easy for Yvie to empathize with Scarlet, even if Scarlet’s hesitance never wavered.

“You don’t have to do that for me. These little chats at midnight is enough for me,” Yvie says with a smile, hoping her sharp teeth won’t translate as something mischievous. “But does that mean I’m part of your little clique?”

Scarlet chuckles, “I think so, we just couldn’t seem to get rid of you.” Scarlet says and Yvie laughs dorkily, “But thanks gremlin, you don’t know how much this means to me.”

“Aw, I gave you a wand and now you’re all soft, how cute,” Yvie says and Scarlet blushes while laughing softly. 

“Hey— no! The wand just made me realize how much of a fucked up friend I am to you.”

“I guess the lesson for today is to give wands to people before they begin ruining your reputation.”

Scarlet pouts, “Hey, don’t joke about that,” Scarlet says with an awkward chuckle, “I said I was sorry and I really, hundred percent, swear to the Unnamed God, that I will make it up to you and I promise that I will be your true friend from now on, sounds good?”

“Hm, let’s do something then.” Yvie says and Scarlet quirks an eyebrow at her, “Share me a secret, I’ll tell you one back, and we promise not to tell anybody. And you have to go first since it’ll prove if you’re being honest,”

“What are we, some fucking grade-schoolers having a sleepover?”

“We both bicker like we’re children so yeah, sure, you can think of it like that,” Yvie remarks and Scarlet rolls her eyes jokingly as she huffs. 

“Fine, you’ve a point.” Scarlet says. Then, she begins to purse her lips as she ponders what she could confess to Yvie. It took a bit of humming and finger tapping until Scarlet found something to say, “Uhm, I, well, I’m getting to Ra’jah after we graduate…?” she says with a begrudging smile but Yvie slaps her knee softly, her eyes narrowing.

“That’s not a secret,” Yvie says grumpily, wishing to hear more than that. Scarlet childishly whines at her for that and began pondering about her “secret” even more. To motivate her, Yvie says, “I’ll tell you the secrets of the black vial—“ Yvie gestures to the black bottle next to the picture frame on her bedside table, “—and how I became like this if you tell me something about yourself,”

Scarlet’s eyes widen in curiosity, “I… Yvie, you’ve got some tough balls,” Scarlet says and Yvie shrugs with a half-smile, “What if I say… I were an oddball. Just like you. Is that… something?”

“I kinda sensed that from you.”

“Okay, I guess I’ll expound on that idea.” Scarlet says, her chipper tone decreasing, “Is it too bad for me to say that I’m sca—scared of criticism?” Scarlet says, her voice betraying her for a second. Her eyes wander off again as she began rambling, “I told this to the others but sometimes, I feel like my life depends on the validation from others. Especially from my followers,”

“Followers? More like assholes who think they own you,” Yvie remarks bitterly. Scarlet bites the inside of her cheek a bit as she shrugs, fearful to admit that her fans were awfully toxic.

“I can’t help it, Yves. I mean, I was pretty weird before I did all the theatre stuff and those were… dark times for me. No one really got me besides, y’know, Ra’jah and Shuga, but that’s about it. Gillikins are entitled assholes who just really like to judge whenever something’s different.” Scarlet gives an awkward laugh and Yvie agrees wordlessly, “I hid a lot, back then, and maybe still a bit now. I’m scared to hear that I’m terrible or disgusting just because I’m a little bit different. Kinda jealous of you though, since you kinda made it your brand without giving a fuck of what others think.”

“When you look like this for 18 years, you get used to it,” Yvie says, “What are you gonna do about them?”

“I… don’t know.” Scarlet says, “I’m scared of… what they’ll say. What they’ll spread.” Scarlet begins to shift her legs so she can hug them.

“But you do want to escape them, right?”

“Uhm, yea, something like that. I’m trying my best to let their words not affect me,” Scarlet says nervously, then shakes her head and waves her hand, “Enough about that though, that’s something to deal with for another day,” Scarlet says and brings back her wide smile. Yvie is almost startled by it since obviously, she’d love to help Scarlet tackle the issue at hand, but she was in no position to ask Scarlet to continue talking about something she’s uncomfortable with. Maybe if they got closer, Yvie could possibly, gradually, get her out of that toxic fanbase. “I think we made a promise?” Scarlet asks, really curious on what the black vial really entails.

“I guess… I guess you deserve to know.” Yvie says as she reaches for the black vial, thumbing its intricate design that was carved on the glass. It was sometime since she’s held it and it reminds her of the first time Nanny gave it to her. Nanny was a friend of her father’s who acted more of a parental figure to Brooke and Yvie than an aunt. Inside the black vial was some kind of… liquid that Yvie hasn’t identified yet. She was curious to what it was as a child and almost drank it until Nanny stopped her to. Yvie deduces that this could either be some alcoholic substance or perfume, she doesn’t know. All she knows is that her mom was attached to the vial and was something important to her. 

“Is it perfume?” asks Scarlet, narrowing her eyes as she watches the black liquid slosh inside the bottle, “Looks like oil. Like, the bad kind.”

“Uhm, I don’t know either. It’s from my mom so I decided to just keep it,” Yvie says as she lends the vial to Scarlet for her to observe, “I think it has something to do with how I look but it’s just a theory.”

“When I visited, I don’t recall seeing your mother,” Scarlet says, “I don’t know if it’s impolite but do you…?”

“No, she’s dead.” Yvie says with a hint of guilt. Yvie and her mom had somewhat of a relationship, something better than her relationship with her father, at least. She remembers that her mom was really the one who was comfortable touching Yvie like a normal child, and was the one who convinced her father that Yvie was as normal as any other baby. But Yvie remembers her reluctance at times— her mom would be frantic and disoriented sometimes, always looking like she had something to be stressed about. Yvie couldn’t really understand her mom thoroughly but she was thankful she acted the way she did— at least it was better than her father’s attitude.

“It was kinda my fault she died,” Yvie says and Scarlet looked up from the bottle in surprise.

“I don’t think it would be that bad.”

“Well, even if it wouldn’t be the case, I still made her life a living hell. If you had me as a baby, I think you would give up on me immediately,” 

Scarlet stops to visualize a baby Yvie, “That… were you born like—“ Scarlet gestures to Yvie, “Like this?”

“Yep, sadly. It caused my father to be super paranoid— like, they tried to get another baby so that the town would stop talking about me. My father would literally feed my mom milkflowers so their baby would be quote unquote “pure”.”

“That’s Brooke, right?”

“Mhm, it was Brooke. But y’know what happened. Her legs got all tangled. And when my mom gave birth to her, she died. So yea, it’s really my fault that all these tragedies happened.”

“But it wasn’t your fault you ended up this way—“

“I know but— who else is there to blame? I was literally a baby born with shark teeth who couldn’t be breast-fed because thought I would bite my mom’s nipple off. And— and growing up, I still acted like a terrible fucking person.” Yvie rambles and Scarlet’s face slightly scrunches up in concern. “And sometimes, on my bad days, if I’m outed for looking spooky, I usually feel horrible after it. Worse situation include Brooke looking embarrassed when I do something remotely weird. I just… hate it. I just hate this—“ Yvie says as she points to her face and hair, hoping Scarlet would understand her messy rambling.

“Don’t say that,” Scarlet says as she hops off her bed to approach Yvie. “You’re actually really gorgeous, it’s just that you don’t maintain it well,” Scarlet says as she begins removing the multiple pins and ponytails Yvie was using for her hair. Yvie freezes, flustering as Scarlet ran her hands through Yvie’s hair. “I can help you out—“

“Scarlet, I don’t really need that—“

“Your hair’s already down, let me do something about it,” Scarlet climbs on Yvie’s bed and kneels behind her. Yvie awkwardly purses her lips as Scarlet started to finger-comb Yvie’s dreadful hair, hoping she could smooth it out. “Dreads have a good look on you, ever tried ‘em?”

“Yea, but my father didn’t like them so I tried bringing my hair back to the way it was. Didn’t really work out that well.” Yvie replies as Scarlet painfully untangles multiple knots. “I know my hair’s a fucking mess but please be gentle to it—“ 

“Oh, of course, sorry,” Scarlet says as she grabs the ponytails again, “Have you ever tried using one bun? I think one bun will suit you a lot. I’d also recommend to keep your hair straight but it might take a month for it too entirely smoothen so… bun it is.” Scarlet says as she began tugging Yvie’s hair, curling it so it will form a bun on the center of her scalp. Scarlet also lets some stray strands of hair flow on the sides of her face to give it a fashionable look. After multiple trials of getting Yvie’s uncooperative hair to stick together, Scarlet finally manages to pull off the bun with eight pins and three ponytails.

“Perfect, this is perfect! Holy shit, Yves,” Scarlet says, astounded by her own work. Yvie doesn’t really know what she’s done until she looks at the mirror to her left. Yvie was hoping for the worst until she actually sees what Scarlet’s done— then she gasps. Her hair finally looked… likeable. The bun, even if it was humongous, made Yvie look cleaner and more pleasing. 

“Holy shit indeed,” Yvie replies, still stunned by how she looked, “What in the fuck, you are an actual sorcerer, what kind of magic did you use on my horrid hair?” Yvie asks and Scarlet giggles and shrugs.

“I combed your hair with my fingers. I don’t think you’ve ever heard what “combing” is,” Scarlet remarks and Yvie couldn’t really retort because she rarely ever combs. Additionally, her mouth was still agape as she tried to grasp wonderful her hair looked. 

“Y’know, I perhaps might be in the mood for a full blown transformation,” Scarlet adds and Yvie blinks, “Let me get my makeup— I think I can do something with that face of yours.”

“Wait— no, Scarlet, you already did my makeup before—“

“Shh, I wanna try some things out—“ Scarlet jumps off the bed excitedly as she rummages through her things to find her makeup collection. Most of the makeup she owns isn’t really used because Scarlet, believe it or not, simply does light makeup using the same five products over and over again. Yvie, on the other hand, doesn’t really wear makeup unless it’s a special occasion, like that dance party a while ago. Scarlet used some black lipstick and eyeshadow on her but it was not too heavy since Yvie refused to let Scarlet be late for her own party.

“Scarlet, it’s midnight, I’m gonna wash it off anyways—“

“I’m just practicing so you can be able to pull off a grand look tomorrow morning—“

“When did I agree to that? Scarlet don’t be—“ Yvie was interrupted by Scarlet pulling her and directing her to the chair in front of the vanity. Yvie couldn’t do much but allow Scarlet to have her fun because she sometimes forgets how her infatuation for her just lets Scarlet do whatever she wants. 

“Trust me— you trust me right, Yves?” Scarlet says as she sorts out her brushes and palettes.

Yvie gulps, “S-sure, I guess?”

“Okay then, lemme try something,” Scarlet begins to work soundlessly as Yvie closes her eyes. Scarlet worked softly, making sure she wouldn’t bruise Yvie’s face when she dabs her brush unto her cheeks and eyelids. Yvie doesn’t know what she’s applying but she does take a note off how much time Scarlet’s spending her time on her eyelids. She could also feel some light touches to the rest of her face and her neck.

“Last time I checked, I’m not Trixie Mattel, so don’t put too much makeup,” Yvie comments and Scarlet laughs.

“Yea, okay, but I promise just—“ she feels a brush lightly swipe on her cheeks, “—and done. Open your eyes,” Scarlet says with a hint of giddiness to her tone. Yvie opens her eyes and blinks a little, some of the power accidentally slipping into her lashes. When she gets them all out, though, she is able to see herself in the mirror.

Yvie looks unrecognizable. Besides the pupil-less eyeballs and the jagged streaks under on her eyebags, Yvie can tell that Scarlet did a good job on her makeup. Everything matched Yvie’s brand— the black pigment, the glossy, dark lipstick on her lips, and the little details of white to match her hair. 

Yvie sighs in marvel, “Wow,” she says, looking closer at herself in the mirror to check if she wasn’t hallucinating, “That’s amazing, Scar.”

“Oh, I know.” Scarlet replies pridefully, “But we have to get to the last step.” Scarlet says and Yvie groans, wondering what else could be added. Yvie already looked splendid but Scarlet thought it’d be a great idea to whip out her wand for— for  _ something _ Yvie is unsure of.

“What else would you want to add?” Yvie asks, trying to keep her patience high. Yvie lays her left elbow on the vanity as she waits for Scarlet to explain what kind of unrealistic plan she had in mind.

“Your outfit. Your outfit could be a bit… better. Not that it isn’t good but I wanna make it have more… pizazz.” Scarlet says and Yvie doesn’t quite understand what she meant or why she’s using the wand to do all the work. Scarlet was too inexperienced to know how a wand functions yet she tries to use it anyways— Yvie thinks that despite how likeable she is, Scarlet was still a huge dumbass.

“You don’t know how wands work.” Yvie states the obvious but Scarlet shushes her as she moves her wand around. “Scarlet, wands are for sorcery, not fashion,”

“Hey, no, I’ve seen people in Emerald City use wands to design. And if they can do it, how hard could it be?” Scarlet says as she waves the wand around, hoping to stir some magic from the wand. 

“And if this goes horribly?”

“I’m sure you can help me out if it does.”

“No, as in, if the uni explodes? Doesn’t that mean Madame Visage is going to, y’know, get the wand back?” Yvie says and Scarlet suddenly lowers her wand in conflict, not wanting to risk messing up her spell. She grumbles as she gives in to not using the wand, going back to return it to its case. “Aw, don’t be all grumpy, I’ll let you design my dress if you at least attend one month’s worth of sorcery classes.”

Scarlet at least smiles at that, “I think I can work with that.” Then, out of nowhere, Scarlet seems to gain an idea. Rushing to open her drawer full of accessories, Scarlet rummages through her collection. Eventually, she grabs something from way deep in the drawer and holds it up triumphantly. Yvie gazes at what Scarlet had to offer— it was a black, rose clip the size of her palm. Despite not using a lot of floral patterns in her aesthetic, the black rose was something that Yvie thought was passable enough for herself to wear.

“Would you want to wear this tomorrow?” Scarlet asks as she approaches Yvie with the clip, holding it up to clip on her hair. Scarlet had to tiptoe a bit to reach Yvie as Yvie flushes when she realizes Scarlet was so close to reaching her face. After a few adjustments, Scarlet manages to keep the rose on Yvie’s hair, then backs away to look if it suits Yvie. Yvie pokes at the accessory for a few until she turns to the mirror to check if the black rose looked good on her. 

“I… sure.” Yvie says, examining her outfit as a whole. Scarlet definitely was an expert on fashion and design, as Yvie revelled in on how breathtaking she looked overall. “Thank you, Scar.” Yvie says and Scarlet beams from the thanks. “But I’m going to take a shower now, if you don’t mind,”

“Of course I don’t but promise me that you’ll let me help you get ready in the morning?”

Yvie huffs, “Fine.”

//

The murmurs around the class were unmissable as Yvie entered. Yvie already has emerging second thoughts as she entered, thinking whether she can run back to her room and lock herself in there for a month.

“You look fine,” Scarlet whispers, walking in with her usual smile and poise. Yvie knows that despite her joyful stature, Scarlet was just as nervous as Yvie as she’s never walked in class with her arms locked with Yvie’s before. This morning, Scarlet promised Yvie that she will start trying her best to stop letting her fans brainwash her into doing things she disliked. It was hard for her to execute all this but Yvie was glad that Scarlet was putting an effort.

“Holy shit,” Yvie hears Ra’jah whisper from her seat, “You’ve been Scarlet-ified,” Ra’jah states and laughs as Yvie and Scarlet went up to her. “What did you do?” Ra’jah asked Scarlet, still eyeing Yvie in disbelief.

“I taught Yvie what a brush was,” Scarlet says jokingly as she leans on Ra’jah’s desk. Yvie snorts at her. 

“Rude,” Yvie comments, “I don’t know why my hair never cooperates when I brush it and when Scarlet does, it just works with her. I don’t get it-- it’s like magic.”

“Looks like I was truly destined to be a sorcerer.” Scarlet says poshly as she places a dramatic hand on her chest.

“Or maybe just a hairstyler.” Ra’jah comments and Scarlet makes a face at her as Yvie merely laughs.

With a loud bang, their conversation ends abruptly as Miss West enters the room with a frightened expression. Panickedly, she runs to her desk as everyone returns to their seats swiftly. “Good morning class, uh, oh Oz, but we have very little time this morning--” Miss West speaks and Yvie’s eyebrow creases as she observes how shaky and fearful Miss West was. Miss West almost trips on her way to the desk but makes it there successfully, her hands gripping the desk like her life depended on it.

“I’m sorry, class but this-- this is my last day at Shiz.” Miss West starts and everyone stares at her in disbelief. Even Scarlet looked bewildered. Both Yvie and Scarlet exchange concerned glances. “I am… no longer permitted to teach. I just wanna thank all of you for your enthusiasm, your essays, your--”

Miss West’s speech was interrupted by Madame Visage strutting in the classroom, looking highly distressed. Miss West looks at her with such a forlorn look that it pains Yvie to merely watch all of this occur right in front of her. “Oh, my, uhm, I’ve to go, dear students, but never stop speaking out and always know that--”

Some other unknown figures step in the room, all of them in black suits and sunglasses. Whoever they are, Yvie didn’t trust them. Their suits literally screamed danger and Yvie was skeptic about Miss West’s statement. This was not some normal firing of a certain professor; this was something more than that. 

Madame Visage looks apologetic as the group of men began grabbing Miss West from her position, forcefully dragging her out the classroom. Some students couldn’t watch such a horrid act in front of them and some who did watched in terror. Even Madame Visage looked like she had no control of the situation despite most likely being the culprit behind this.

“Remember that  _ they _ are not telling you the whole story! Remember that, remember it--” Miss West was completely pulled out of the room as she was forced to stop speaking. Every student then began whispering at one another, confused to what they had just witnessed. Yvie was the most livid person in the room, tempted to chase Miss West to check out what was actually going on.

“I didn’t dress up nicely to fucking witness Miss West being fired. What the fuck?” Yvie whispers to Scarlet and Ra’jah who both nod. They both seemed concerned and just as confused as everyone else was, not sure of what to make of this situation. Yvie turns away from her friends to stare at Madame Visage, “Well, aren’t you going to do something rather than stand there?” Yvie demands loudly as Madame Visage simply stood, looking remorseful.

“I’m sorry, Miss Yvie, there’s nothing we could do,” she says, sounding just as mournful as the rest. Then, she turns to gaze at the door, looking like she was expecting someone to come through again. Yvie follows her stare and there, someone else enters. They looked exactly like the other men who grabbed Miss West away but the only difference they had was that he was clutching something in his hand. Whatever was inside couldn’t stop mewling as if there was some kind of creature inside the thing.

“Hello class,” The man says, his voice scruffy. Yvie immediately wants him out of the campus. “I will be your new history teacher but I’ll discuss it in a more… different approach.” The man expresses an evil smirk and Yvie can feel her hand begin to vibrate. She tries repressing her powers but they seep out more and more as she watches the creep take over their class. 

As Madame Visage slowly exits the room unnoticed, the new professor makes his way to the desk. “Anyways, class, now that your…  _ savage _ professor is gone, let me introduce to you a little something to start of our class.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about but Miss West was not a savage,” Yvie says angrily as her new professor impolitely rolls his eyes back at her. 

“You students think you know everything, don’t you?” he retorts then pauses, trying to bring back a welcoming attitude. “Sorry, my bad, but back to our lesson at hand, I’m going to show you something… something interesting.”

“We don’t even know your name yet,” Yvie speaks again, ready to blast him into oblivion if he says anything more.

“I’ll get to it after the introduction, okay? Just be quiet,” he snarls. Yvie and Scarlet then look at each other again, both getting very irritated by the new professor. “Okay, students, but let me show you what I have under this tablecloth because I guarantee that you will be amazed—“ he says, dramatically lifting the black sheet to reveal what he has hidden inside.

Inside of the thing was a cage. Yvie immediately winces as she spots a lone Lion cub inside the cage, trembling immensely as he sees the crowd in front of him. “Come closer, students, he doesn’t bite.” the professor states as he beckons the students to gather around the cage. And of course, because of how stupid most of these students were, they decide to crowd the cage, not realizing how fearful the Lion cub looked. Even Ra’jah’s curiosity got the better of her, causing her to see what was going on as well. “See? This is what animals should all be like— illiterate and unable to speak.” he explains and Yvie has had enough of this creep.

“Scarlet,” Yvie says, “Scarlet, you promised that you’d do anything to make up for what you’ve done, right?”

“Uh, yes? Yvie, where are you going with this?”

“Grab the cage when everyone is pushed away. Got that?” Yvie says through gritted teeth as she begins to collect her powers. The aura around her darkens just like Scarlet’s dreadful expression. 

“Yvie, I know I said I would make up for everything but this—“

“Scarlet,  _ please, _ ” Yvie pleas with furrowed brows. Scarlet pauses, her lips thinning as she looks back and forth from the cage and to Yvie, “I can’t— I can’t hold it in anymore— just fucking run for it!” Yvie tells her through gritted teeth as she unleashes some kind of dark energy from her palms. This directly hits everyone in front of her, causing most of them to yelp as they begin floating. All of them panic as they lose control of their bodies, trying their best to lower even if all it did was make them spin mid-air. Scarlet, thankfully and obediently, ran for the cage with all the might her heels can deliver. She grabs the cage away from their deranged professor forcefully; Yvie has never seen Scarlet this courageous and powerful before.

“Yvie, I got the cub— where do we go?” Scarlet yells at her as she grasps Yvie’s wrist with her free hand. Yvie almost forgets how to speak when Scarlet pulled her out of the class but manages to focus before Scarlet could become more irritated with her.

“There’s a forest next to the campus, right? I heard it leads directly to an animal-centered village. We can, I dunno, let the cub free around that area—“

“I forget that you’re not much of a planner.” Scarlet murmurs, “But I guess that works. Go to the northern exit and we’ll get to it faster.” Scarlet instructs and Yvie follows, both of them running quickly towards the mentioned exit. 

With their running, they were able to make to the entrance to the forest in under ten minutes. There was a lot of professors and students they had to avoid but they managed to sneak past them thanks to Yvie utilizing her powers to create distractions. When they made it there, they weren’t so lucky with the weather. Above, grey clouds hovered, about to pour its rain in a few minutes. Both Yvie and Scarlet stopped to breathe for a moment, their running causing them to pant irregularly. Scarlet also noticed how the Lion cub kept squirming inside the cage either from fear or their need to escape. 

“I think it wants to—“ Scarlet pants again, “—to get out.” Scarlet finishes as she taps on the cage door. Yvie moves closer to Scarlet as she eyes the cage, trying to find out the state of the cub.

“Wanna try opening it a bit to check him out?” Yvie recommends and Scarlet pauses before she nods, holding the cage close to themselves. Scarlet twists the cage’s knob fearlessly, opening the door quite a bit. Immediately, the cub’s arm reaches out and scratches Scarlet’s hand, which makes her shut the door in panic. Fortunately, Scarlet’s intelligence pushed through and she managed to not drop the cage. She safely places the cage on the ground as she checks her newly forming wound.

“Shit,” Yvie murmurs, kneeling in front of Scarlet to see if the scratch looks awful, “Scarlet, you’re— you’re bleeding.” Yvie states as she analyzes the wound. The scratch wasn’t too intense— it only reached from the bottom of her index finger to her thumb. Because the cub was still pretty young, the claws weren’t as developed yet, hence the scratch wasn’t to deep. Unfortunately, it still bled, and it will definitely leave a scar once it heals.

“No shit,” Scarlet says, trying to stop herself from wincing. Yvie reaches for her pockets to find her handkerchief then dabs the cloth on Scarlet’s wound. They were silent as Yvie cleans up the wound. Though they look at peace, Yvie’s breathing intensified as if she didn’t stop running. Scarlet’s hand was in Yvie’s and their faces seemed too close to each other that Yvie couldn’t help but blush. Also, not to mention how they’re literally sitting on a field full of flowers. 

This situation screamed romantic in so many different levels.

“Is that okay?” Yvie eventually says as she wraps the handkerchief around Scarlet’s hand. Scarlet looked at impressed at the improvised bandage and nods. 

“Thanks, Yves,” Scarlet says, and no matter how many times she uses that nickname, Yvie’s heart still soars.

“No, I should thank you for coming with me.” Yvie replies, “You could’ve just walked away back there.” Yvie adds sincerely and it causes Scarlet to smile earnestly.

“Didn’t I tell you that I was going to make it up to you?” Scarlet says as she picks up the cage again, making sure the door was locked. “And just to prove that, I’m going to get this cub to safety--”

“What? On your own?” Yvie asks, giving Scarlet an incredulous look. “Don’t be ridiculous, I can go with you--”

“It’s just a small walk away, Yves, I’ll be fine.” Scarlet stands up and removes the pollen that stuck to her dress. “Just wait for me here just in case someone finds us.” Scarlet instructs her to do and runs off before Yvie could get to protest. Scarlet ascends into the forest as Yvie gazes at her longingly, slowly standing up from the awkward kneeling position she was in. 

Whatever that was, Yvie ws going to treasure forever. Yvie wasn’t used to this kind of fondness for someone. The one where even if their arms accidentally brush against one another, Yvie gains an overwhelming surge of glee and thrill that bursts within her. The kind where even if she merely smiled, Yvie feels completely drawn to her.

Yvie fiddles with her fingers, what has Scarlet Envy done to her?

But Yvie has to remember-- Scarlet hasn’t done anything to her-- rather, she hasn’t done anything  _ for _ her. Scarlet being courteous and friendly isn’t in any means to make Yvie become enamored by her. Yvie holds her breath-- she was so  _ stupid _ for being this hopeful. She should’ve known not to wish for miracles especially with the life she lived through.

Nothing ever goes the way Yvie wants it to go. From her appearance alone, Yvie couldn’t achieve most of what she wants. Without her sister and her nanny, she wouldn’t be able to study, and if it weren’t for Vanjie being the rogue person that she is, Yvie wouldn’t even have friends. Everything Yvie gains in life always come from convenient accidents that she probably doesn’t deserve to happen.

Yvie already knew she shouldn’t wish. She shouldn’t even try wishing for anything-- wishing will only hurt her more than she already feels.

And even if she did wish, Scarlet already picked someone else. Someone so likeable and enjoyable, very charismatic that every person who has talked to her immediately connects and lights up. Not to mention, that someone was incredibly gorgeous as well with her ravishing, purple locks and contagious grins of joy.

Yvie’s not that someone.

“Miss Oddly—fuck,” in the midst of Yvie’s self-deprecation, there entered Madame Visage, struggling to make her way to Yvie because of the field of flowers. The flowers didn’t seem to tolerate the headmistress’ long skirt, hence why she was having trouble making her way to Yvie. Yvie represses as a smirk as she watches the headmistress curse under her breath every time her feet get tangled into the flowers. “Yvie, my Oz, help a grandma out,” Madame Visage says as Yvie rushes to her before Madame Visage trips and stumbles.

“Are you here to suspend me?” asks Yvie as Madame Visage finally stops walking. Yvie and Madame Visage both have a close relationship ever since Yvie attended her first sorcery class. Even if the headmistress can be obnoxious at times, Madame Visage was very social and friendly with Yvie. The headmistress eventually earned the trust of Yvie, acting more like a familial figure to her than a professor. 

  
  


“What? Of course not, that’d be stupid,” Madame Visage replies, “However, seeing that you’re the reason I had to walk through this field of ungodly flowers, I’m highly considering it now,” she jokes as Yvie laughs.

“Sorry about that— Scarlet and I planned to head back anyways after she, uhm, releases the cub.” Yvie says and Madame Visage raises her eyebrows in disbelief.

“You actually stole the cub? That’s bold. Except for the part where you made everyone float and all.” Madame Visage remarks, “But I’m sorry we couldn’t do anything a while ago. It were the orders of… of the school’s… uhm, head.”

“There’s someone in a position higher than you?”

“Yep, they practically own the school. It’s confidential, though, so I can’t specifically say who it is. But they… they wanted us to hire this new teacher. I didn’t know much about them but I had to follow their orders anyways. I didn’t actually think they’d torture a cub— it disgusts me.”

“What did you do about them?”

“I—despite the orders of the main head—fired him. I didn’t like his attitude anyways so I fired him because of that.” Madame Visage says with a proud smirk and Yvie laughs, relieved that she wouldn’t have to see that freak ever again. But that still raises the question of where Miss West was.

“What about Miss West?” Yvie asks and Madame Visage’s smirk drops quickly, her expression becoming more grim and anxious, “Don’t tell me she’s not coming back,” 

“We can’t do anything about that, Yvie. I’ll still try my best to find someone who can replace her, though— and I promise they’d be a hundred percent better.” Madame Visage says and gives her a smile. Yvie purses her lips as she nods. Without a doubt, Yvie would absolutely want Miss West to return, yet she didn’t know how to inquire about it. Maybe she’ll try to visit her in her humble cottage a few minutes away from Shiz if she ever gets the chance.

“Oh, Yvie, I also have good news,” Madame Visage says as she shuffles through the things in her pocket to lift up a green envelope. As soon as Yvie saw the color of the envelope, Yvie immediately knew what the letter entails. “Yes, I know, it took a month but I finally got it—“

“Oh Madame, I… I can’t believe this,” Yvie eagerly snatches away the envelope, examining it further to double check if it was real. The envelope was laced with gold details and was sealed with a stamp with an intricate design on it. She didn’t understand too well on what the seal meant but she undoubtedly knew that this was the Wizard’s official seal. Of course, Yvie felt rejoiceful inside, but at the same time, a jeering voice whispered that she merely got this by pure coincidence. Nothing she gained was through her non-existent hard work— a lot of time, she was basically handed something just because. Yvie just couldn’t earn anything on her own, can she?

“I’m proud of ya, Yvie,” Madame Visage says, interrupting Yvie’s train of thought. Yvie looks up and blinks before leaping at her, giving her headmistress a heartfelt hug. Madame Visage almost stumbles at Yvie’s suddenness but hugs her back proudly. Yvie forgets how uplifting a hug can be— Yvie tends to forget about the euphoria of it because of how much she lacks it.

Then, Yvie feels something drip on her sleeves. Yvie lets go of Madame Visage as she stares at her sleeves. It was wet. Yvie then peers upwards as she watched the same rain clouds from earlier begin releasing its rain. It was a light drizzle at first, but with how grey the clouds were, it was definitely not going to stay as one for long.

“Yves! Yves I got the— oh shit,” Scarlet emerges from the forest, looking a little bit more haggard than usual. The cage was still in her hand but the cub was gone; it most likely ran away the moment Scarlet let her out. “Uhm, good— good morning, Madame, are we in trouble…?” Scarlet says, sounding too polite. She covers her head with her arms to avoid getting her dress wet.

“Yes… and no— wait, hold on,” Madame Visage raises her hand and snaps her fingers. In an instance, the rain clouds disperse magically while they whiten in color. The rain seems to evaporate as well, no longer inhabiting the clouds that were once grey. Both Yvie and Scarlet watch this magical display in awe, their eyes shifting from their headmistress and the clouds repeatedly. 

“How did you…?” Scarlet says, clearly impressed by the headmistress.

“Weather is my specialty,” Madame Visage says and winks, “Sorry I didn’t tell any of you sooner but just keep it a secret from the other students for now.” Madame Visage explains and both Scarlet and Yvie nod, “Now, let’s get going? I still have something tasked for the two of you.”

Madame Visage begins to walk back towards the school, managing to stumble a bit through the field, as Yvie and Scarlet trail behind. Scarlet immediately hooks her arm around Yvie’s like she always does and grins at her. After a short while, they made it back to the school grounds, thankful that they didn’t have to walk through any more greenery. 

“Uh, Madame, aren’t we supposed to have a sorcery class?” asks Scarlet as she kept dragging her heels into the ground to get rid of the dirt that was on her sole. 

“Well, you’re correct, and I’m sad that we have to introduce you to the class this way, but I hope you’re not forgetting that the students in Miss We— pardon, I mean the students in Class A are still, y’know, floating.” Madame Visage explains and Scarlet’s eyes widen immediately. “Don’t worry, you’re not in any trouble or anything— there’s no rules in the book that goes against making students levitate,” Madame Visage chuckles, “But there is one for running away in the middle of classes while leaving the students in some kind of sticky situation. I’m afraid I have to give you a small… task to make up for it.”

“What is it?” Scarlet says softly, fearing she might be removed from the sorcery class.

“Firstly, we have to help the students down. That will be our lesson for sorcery. Secondly, I don’t want to punish you for this but I’m afraid I that they might think I have favoritism so I have to give you a task to fulfil. It’s simple, don’t worry— you just have to clean up after the Animals after they do their protests every other day. I need you to do this together for at least a month and everything else will be well,”

Scarlet and Yvie exchange glances. “That’s not… bad, actually. I expected much worse,” Scarlet says, “Thank you, Madame,” Scarlet adds politely.

“You’re welcome, ladies,” the headmistress replies as she turns right. They made their way to the classroom again and Yvie and Scarlet were both anxious to see their classmates again. Yvie knew that there was no turning back to what she did unless she undoes her magic. Scarlet was more unquestionably fearful because of the possible rumors to be spread about her but Yvie was still proud of her. 

Despite her anxiety, Scarlet stayed determined and walked into the classroom first— she definitely was not lying anymore about making it up to Yvie even if she had to ruin her reputation. And for Yvie, she trailed behind Scarlet as they walked in the classroom, ready to revert the magic Yvie released unto the room.

  
  



End file.
